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Patient Perceptions of the Relational Empathy of Healthcare Practitioners From the Department of Emergency Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Patient Perceptions of the Relational Empathy of Healthcare Practitioners From the Department of Emergency Medicine During COVID-19: A Randomized, Controlled Trial Comparing In-Person Interaction With Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Versus Video Interaction Without PPE

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05102656
Enrollment
107
Registered
2021-11-01
Start date
2021-06-02
Completion date
2027-02-02
Last updated
2026-05-20

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

Conditions

COVID-19 Infection, Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Cell Neoplasm, Malignant Solid Neoplasm

Brief summary

This study investigates patients' perceptions of their doctor's or nurse's empathy during an in-person interaction with the doctor or nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) compared to during a video interaction with the doctor or nurse without PPE. The goal of this research study is to learn whether patients who visit the Acute Cancer Care Center at MD Anderson believe they get better (more empathetic) care from doctors who visit them in person wearing PPE or from doctors who visit them by video call and do not wear PPE.

Detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: I. To determine whether patients perceive their healthcare practitioner as more empathetic during an in-person interaction with the practitioner wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), or during a video interaction without the need for PPE. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assess whether certain physicians perform better with video whereas others perform better in person. II. To characterize generational differences in patient perception of healthcare practitioner empathy during an in person interaction with the practitioner wearing PPE, or during a video interaction without the need for PPE. OUTLINE: After initial visit, patients are randomized to 1 of 2 groups. GROUP A (NO PPE): Patients receive standard of care via video call with treating physician. GROUP B (WEARING PPE): Patients receive standard of care in-person physician visits.

Interventions

OTHERBest Practice

Physician conversations occur in-person

PROCEDUREDiscussion

Physician conversations occur via video call

OTHERQuestionnaire Administration

Ancillary studies

Sponsors

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

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

Inclusion criteria

* \>= 18 years old * Able to speak and write in English * Able to understand and willing to sign a written informed consent document * Willing and able to complete the study assessment(s)

Exclusion criteria

* Refuses to participate * Too ill to participate, in the estimation of the patient's physician

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Patients' perceptions of healthcare provider empathyThrough study completion, an average of 1 yearUnivariate linear regression analysis will be used to determine the association between the approach (in-person interaction/with personal protective equipment \[PPE\] versus video interaction/without PPE) and the composite scores or scores for each question (for each of the two tools \[the CARE Measure and the linear empathy tool\]).

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORKumar Alagappan

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: May 21, 2026