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Patient Perception of Physician's Compassion, Communication Skills, and Professionalism During an Outpatient Palliative Care Visit

Patient Perception of Physician's Compassion, Communication Skills, and Professionalism During an Outpatient Palliative Care Visit: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02957565
Enrollment
121
Registered
2016-11-07
Start date
2016-11-03
Completion date
2020-01-02
Last updated
2020-11-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Malignant Neoplasms of Independent (Primary) Multiple Sites, Advanced Cancer

Keywords

Malignant neoplasms of independent (primary) multiple sites, Questionnaires, Surveys, Videos, Advanced Cancer

Brief summary

The goal of this research study is to learn how patients feel about their doctors' attitudes toward supportive care and treatment options for advanced cancer patients.

Detailed description

If you agree to take part in this study, during an already-scheduled office visit, you will complete 5 questionnaires about your symptoms, your physical and emotional health, and your trust in the medical profession. These questionnaires should take about 17 minutes to complete. Study Groups: After you have completed the first 5 questionnaires, you will be randomly assigned (as in the roll of the dice) to 1 of 4 groups. Each group will watch 2 short videos that show actors playing doctor and patient roles, discussing different cancer-related symptom treatment options. Each video is about 4 minutes long and will discuss the same content, but setting of each video will be different. After watching the first video, you will complete 3 questionnaires about your opinions of the doctor's behavior. These questionnaires should take about 5 minutes to complete. After you watch the second video, you will complete the same 3 questionnaires. You will also complete 2 additional questionnaires about which doctor you would rather have as your doctor and why, and your opinion about the setting of the examination room in the video. It should take about 8 minutes to complete these questionnaires. Length of Study: It should take about 38 minutes to watch both videos and to complete all questionnaires. Your participation on this study will be over after you have completed the last questionnaire. Other Information: You must attend the study visit alone. Your family members should not be in the room with you while you are participating in the study. You may request to have family members remain in the room, but they must remain silent so that they do not influence your opinions. This is an investigational study. Up to 120 participants will be enrolled in this study. All will take part at MD Anderson.

Interventions

Participant completes 5 questionnaires during an already-scheduled office visit. Questionnaires ask about symptoms, physical and emotional health, and trust in the medical profession. These questionnaires should take about 17 minutes to complete.

OTHERVideos

Participant watches 2 short videos that show actors playing doctor and patient roles, discussing different cancer-related symptom treatment options. Each video is about 4 minutes long and discusses the same content, but setting of each video is different.

After viewing first video, participant completes assessment questionnaire to evaluate their opinion of the physicians behavior. These questionnaires should take about 5 minutes to complete. After viewing second video, participant completes the same 3 assessment questionnaires. Participant also completes 2 additional questionnaires asking which physician participant would prefer as a primary physician and the satisfaction with health information technology use in their care.

Sponsors

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Patients with the diagnosis of advanced cancer defined as locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic disease. 2. Outpatients (either new referrals or follow ups) seen in the Supportive Care Clinic. 3. Age \>/= 18 years old 4. English speaking 5. Patients with normal cognitive status (Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale (MDAS) \</=6/30) who are able to understand the nature and purpose of the study and have the ability to complete the consent process.

Exclusion criteria

1\) Patients who are experiencing severe symptom distress, including severe emotional distress and cognitive dysfunction, which may interfere with study participation. This will be determined by the principle investigator and/or attending physician who is caring for the patient during that visit.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Participant's Rating of Physician's Compassion1 dayParticipant's rating of physician's compassion assessed by using a 5-item tool consisting of five 0-10 numerical rating scales assessing five dimensions: warm-cold, pleasant-unpleasant, compassionate distant, sensitive insensitive, caring-uncaring. The sum of the five scales gives a final score representing physician's compassion with a 0 to 50 scale.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Participant's Rating of Physician Communication Skills1 dayParticipant's rating of physician communication skills assessed by using a 14-item tool consisting of 1 to 4 numerical rating scales assessing communication skills. The sum of these 14 scales gives a final score representing physician's communication skills with a 14 to 70 scale.
Participant's Rating of Physician's Professionalism1 dayParticipant's rating of physician's professionalism assessed by using a 4-item tool assessing politeness, listening, explaining the condition and treatment to the participant and participant's involvement in treatment decisions. Participant rates from poor to very good.

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 25, 2026