OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate a quantitative abstraction method for Communication Quality Assurance projects to assess physicians' communication about hidden emotions after newborn genetic screening. DESIGN: Communication quality indicator analysis. SETTING: Standardized parent encounters performed in practicing physicians' clinics or during educational workshops for residents. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-nine pediatrics residents, 53 pediatricians, and 31 family physicians. INTERVENTION: Participants were asked to counsel standardized parents about a screening result; counseling was recorded, transcribed, and parsed into statements (each with 1 subject and 1 predicate). Pairs of abstractors independently compared statements with a data dictionary containing explicit-criteria definitions. OUTCOME MEASURES: Four groups of "precautionary empathy" behaviors (assessment of emotion, anticipation/validation of emotion, instruction about emotion, and caution about future emotion), with definitions developed for both "definite" and "partial" instances. RESULTS: Only 38 of 143 transcripts (26.6%) met definite criteria for at least 1 of the precautionary empathy behaviors. When partial criteria were counted, this number increased to 80 of 143 transcripts (55.9%). The most common type of precautionary empathy was the "instruction about emotion" behavior (eg, "don't be worried"), which may sometimes be leading or premature. CONCLUSIONS: Precautionary empathy behaviors were rare in this analysis. Further study is needed, but this study should raise concerns about the quality of communication services after newborn screening.
OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate a quantitative abstraction method for Communication Quality Assurance projects to assess physicians' communication about hidden emotions after newborn genetic screening. DESIGN: Communication quality indicator analysis. SETTING: Standardized parent encounters performed in practicing physicians' clinics or during educational workshops for residents. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-nine pediatrics residents, 53 pediatricians, and 31 family physicians. INTERVENTION: Participants were asked to counsel standardized parents about a screening result; counseling was recorded, transcribed, and parsed into statements (each with 1 subject and 1 predicate). Pairs of abstractors independently compared statements with a data dictionary containing explicit-criteria definitions. OUTCOME MEASURES: Four groups of "precautionary empathy" behaviors (assessment of emotion, anticipation/validation of emotion, instruction about emotion, and caution about future emotion), with definitions developed for both "definite" and "partial" instances. RESULTS: Only 38 of 143 transcripts (26.6%) met definite criteria for at least 1 of the precautionary empathy behaviors. When partial criteria were counted, this number increased to 80 of 143 transcripts (55.9%). The most common type of precautionary empathy was the "instruction about emotion" behavior (eg, "don't be worried"), which may sometimes be leading or premature. CONCLUSIONS: Precautionary empathy behaviors were rare in this analysis. Further study is needed, but this study should raise concerns about the quality of communication services after newborn screening.
Authors: Michael H Farrell; Stephanie A Christopher; Audrey Tluczek; Karen Kennedy-Parker; Alison La Pean; Kerry Eskra; Jenelle Collins; Gary Hoffman; Julie Panepinto; Philip M Farrell Journal: WMJ Date: 2011-10
Authors: Stephanie A Christopher; Nadia Y Ahmad; Lisa Bradford; Jenelle L Collins; Kerry Eskra; Alison la Pean Kirschner; Faith O O'Tool; Sara J Roedl; Michael H Farrell Journal: Commun Med Date: 2012
Authors: Michael H Farrell; Stephanie A Christopher; Alison La Pean Kirschner; Sara J Roedl; Faith O O'Tool; Nadia Y Ahmad; Philip M Farrell Journal: Patient Educ Couns Date: 2014-08-28
Authors: Michael H Farrell; Clair R Sprenger; Shelbie L Sullivan; Bree A Trisler; Jessica J F Kram; Erin K Ruppel Journal: J Patient Cent Res Rev Date: 2017-01-31