Cumulative Risk on the Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) Predicts Empathic Communication by Physician Assistant Students

Abstract

In the relationship between patients and health care providers, few communicative features are as significant as the providers' ability to express empathy. A robust empirical literature describes the importance of physician communication skills-particularly those that convey empathy-yet few studies have examined empathic communication by physician assistants, who provide primary care for an increasing number of Americans. The present study examines the empathic communication of physician assistant students in interactions with standardized patients. Over a 6-month period, each student conducted three clinical interviews, each of which was evaluated for empathic communication by the patients, the students' clinical instructors, and third-party observers. Students also provided saliva samples for genotyping six single-nucleotide polymorphisms on the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) that are linked empirically to empathic behavior. Consistent with recent research, this study adopted a cumulative risk approach wherein students were scored for their number of risky alleles on the single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Results indicated that cumulative risk on OXTR receptor gene predicted lower patient empathy scores as rated by instructors and observers, but not by standardized patients.

Understanding patients’ satisfaction with physician assistant/associate encounters through communication experiences: a qualitative study in acute hospitals in England

“…There is some evidence that patients appreciate PA communication in hospital encounters [13, 16, 18, 19]. However, there is lack of understanding about the process of PA-patient communication [20] and how this might influence satisfaction, particularly in the context of the acute hospital setting. This setting presents significant challenges to effective communication within clinician-patient encounters: their often brief duration; the absence of a prior relationship; and the likelihood that the acutely ill patient will have interacted with many different medical/surgical team staff members [21, 22].…”

Daily Hugging Predicts Lower Levels of Two Proinflammatory Cytokines

“…Moreover, affectionate communication in close relationships modulates cortisol reactivity to a laboratory stressor (Floyd et al, 2007b; see also Ditzen et al, 2007), and enacting affectionate communication after a stressor accelerates cortisol recovery (Floyd et al, 2007a). Floyd, Pauley, and Hesse (2010) showed that serum oxytocin is partly responsible for the stress-buffering effect of affectionate communication, and additional studies have connected affectionate communication to blood lipids (Floyd et al, 2009;Floyd, Mikkelson, Hesse, & Pauley, 2007); natural killer cell toxicity (Floyd et al, 2014); B cells, T cells, and immunoglobulins (Floyd, Ray, van Raalte, Stein, & Generous, 2018); disordered sleep (Floyd, 2016); and susceptibility to pain (Floyd, Generous, Clark, McLeod, & Simon, 2017).…”