Lead Author: Carol A. Terreginoa,
Submitted by: Michael Maury, UC-San Diego
Patients want empathetic physicians who listen and understand. How do you teach and measure empathy? The objective of this study was “To develop a framework and instrument, the Empathy and Clarity Rating Scale (ECRS), for measuring communication elements used by actors and physicians, and pilot ECRS to test effectiveness of medical improv on first-year students’ communication skills.” Four medical schools collaborated. USMLE Step 2 Communication and Interpersonal Skills (CIS) domains were used as framework for discussion among three focus groups, each with clinicians, actors, communication experts, and community members with patient experience. Audiotaped discussions were transcribed; open coding procedures located emerging themes. Final ECRS was used to study student performance across three levels of experience with medical improv. What was developed from this pilot study was “a communication scale enlightened by experiences of actors, clinicians, scholars and patients.”