Results of the study of audiotaped conversations between physicians and patients showed that medical visits between patients and physicians of the same race were two minutes longer on average, and characterized by patients as having a more positive overall emotional tone and higher satisfaction rating. The report is published in the December 2 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Lisa A. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and associate professor of medicine and of health policy and management at Hopkins, says people tend to speak slower when they are more comfortable and relaxed, which could account for the longer visit times in race-concordant visits. "Even when the verbal content of the visits was the same, perceptions of the visit were more positive in race-concordant visits, suggesting that patient and physician attitudes and expectations, rather than the actual words used to communicate, may have affected patients' experiences," Cooper says.
Teaching communication skills to physicians is important to improve the patient-physician relationship, she says. "However, this study suggests that simply training physicians to make conversation in race-discordant visits mimic that of race-concordant visits may not be enough to improve patients' experiences in visits with a physician of a different race. Increasing ethnic diversity among physicians and engendering trust and comfort between patients and physicians of different races may be the best strategies to improve health care experiences for members of ethnic minority groups."
For the study, Cooper and colleagues evaluated physician-patient communication during the medical visits of 252 patients (142 African-Americans and 110 whites) receiving care from 31 physicians (18 African-Americans and 13 whites) at 16 primary care clinics in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas.
They approached patients in the waiting rooms and asked for permission to tape record the medical visits. Before the visit, patients completed a short survey about their health status. After the visit, they completed another survey that rated the physician's decision-making style and asked about their overall satisfaction with the visit and if they would recommend the physician to a friend.
The audiotapes were analyzed for length of the medical visit, speed of the patients' and physicians' speech, the number of physician statements vs. patient statements, the nature of the conversation (i.e. biomedical, psychosocial, partnership-building, etc.), and the overall emotional tone (friendliness, interest, responsiveness, engagement) of the visit. Surveys were evaluated for the degree to which physicians involve patients in medical decisions and overall patient satisfaction.
Patients who visited physicians of the same race said they were more involved in the decision process than those who saw different-race physicians. Patients seeing same-race physicians also had a higher probability of saying they were satisfied with the visit and that they would recommend the physician to a friend.
Members of other ethnic groups were not included in this study because their representation in the clinical sites visited was too small, Cooper said.
The study was supported by research grants from the Commonwealth Fund, the Bayer Institute for Health Care Communication, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Co-authors were Debra L. Roter, Dr.P.H.; Rachel L. Johnson; Daniel E. Ford, M.D., M.P.H.; Donald M. Steinwachs, Ph.D.; and Neil R. Powe, M.D., M.P.H.
Cooper, Lisa et al, "Patient-centered Communication, Ratings of Care, and Concordance of Patient and Physician Race," Annals of Internal Medicine, Dec. 2, 2003, Vol. 139, No. 11.
Links:
Johns Hopkins' Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research
http://www.med.jhu.edu/welchcenter/
Dr. Cooper's bio - Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health
http://faculty.jhsph.edu/?F=Lisa&L=Cooper
Annals of Internal Medicine
http://www.annals.org/
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions' news releases are available on an EMBARGOED basis on EurekAlert at http://www.eurekalert.org, and from the Office of Communications and Public Affairs' direct e-mail news release service. To enroll, call 410-955-4288 or send e-mail to bsimpkins@jhmi.edu.
On a POST-EMBARGOED basis find them at http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org.
Journal
Annals of Internal Medicine