Visit Duration Does Not Correlate with Perceived Physician Empathy

Abstract

Background: Perceived physician empathy is a strong driver of patient satisfaction. We assessed the influence of wait time, time spent with the surgeon, and surgeon stress level on the way patients rated surgeon empathy. Methods: One hundred and fourteen patients visiting 1 of 6 participating surgeons were prospectively enrolled in the study. We recorded patient demographics and assessed the patient rating of perceived physician empathy. Time waiting for the surgeon and time spent with the surgeon were measured with use of ambulatory tracking systems and by research assistants with stopwatches outside the patient rooms. Patient ratings of surgeon empathy were assessed with use of the Jefferson Scale of Patient’s Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE), and surgeon stress level was assessed with use of the Perceived Stress Score short form. The mean wait time was 30 ± 18 minutes, and the mean time spent with the surgeon was 8.7 ± 5.3 minutes. Two separate multilevel linear regression models were used to compare factors associated with the JSPPPE and time spent with the surgeon. Results: Neither time spent with the surgeon nor wait time was independently associated with perceived physician empathy; being male, having at least a post-college graduate degree, and higher self-reported surgeon stress levels were independently associated with less perceived empathy. More time spent with the surgeon was independently associated with lower self-reported surgeon stress levels; follow-up visits and visits for a traumatic condition were independently associated with less time spent with the surgeon. Conclusions: The results of the present study show that improved communication strategies, rather than shorter wait time or increased time spent with the patient, may increase patient satisfaction. This should be a focus of future research.

The influence of patient perception of physician empathy on patient satisfaction among attending physicians working with residents in an emergent care setting

“…Attending physicians trust the senior residents' performance/clinical judgement more than the junior (e.g., interns, PGY‐1) residents, for which the attending physicians may spend less time with the patients to avoid redundancies. Previous studies indicated that a provider “in‐hurry” phenomenon has an effect on patient perception of provider empathy; 17 these findings are quite controversial 23 and future studies are required to validate, or disprove, this phenomenon.…”

“…Previous studies indicated that a provider "in-hurry" phenomenon has an effect on patient perception of provider empathy; 17 these findings are quite controversial 23 and future studies are required to validate, or disprove, this phenomenon.…”

Perceived Physician Empathy in Pediatric Orthopedics: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The time the physician spent in the room with the patient or if the caregiver believed the physician to be rushed during the visit did not affect perceived empathy. Kortlever et al similarly found that in the adult orthopedic population neither wait time nor time spent with the physician was independently associated with perceived physician empathy ( 19 ). It seems that caregivers can excuse shorter visits than desired and even the physician visibly rushing through the visit if sufficient empathy is demonstrated.…”

Physician empathy and patient enablement: survey in the Portuguese primary health care

“…To our knowledge, our study is the first Portuguese one to evaluate any differences in the patient perceived medical empathy with patients’ characteristics. On the other hand, some studies ( 21 , 22 ) found an association between patient perceived medical empathy and some physicians’ characteristics, namely exerting medical speciality and gender. Therefore, is patient’s perception of medical empathy more related to doctor-related factors than to patient-related ones?…”