Measuring verbal communication in initial physical therapy encounters
Measuring verbal communication in initial physical therapy encounters
Background: Communication in clinical encounters is vital in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and clinician.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure verbal communication between physical therapists and patients with back pain during their initial consultation and trial management of the data using a novel, Web-based application.
Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted.
Methods: Nine musculoskeletal physical therapists and 27 patients with back pain participated in this study. Twenty-five initial consultations were observed, audio recorded, and categorized using the Medical Communications Behavior System. Data were managed using Synote, a freely available application enabling synchronization of audio recordings with transcripts and coded notes.
Results: In this sample, physical therapists spoke for 49.5% of the encounter and patients for 33.1%. Providers and patients spent little time overtly discussing emotions (1.4% and 0.9%, respectively). More-experienced clinicians used more “history/background probes,” more “advice/suggestion,” and less “restatement” than less-experienced staff, although they demonstrated a greater prevalence of talking concurrently and interrupting patients (7.6% compared with 2.6%).
Limitations: Although studies measuring actual behavior are considered to be the gold standard, audio recordings do not enable nonverbal behaviors to be recorded.
Conclusion: This study investigated a method for measuring the verbal content of clinical encounters in a physical therapy outpatient setting. The study has directly contributed to developing a research-friendly version of the application (ie, Synote Researcher). Given the pivotal role of communication in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and provider, investing time in further developing communication skills should be an on-going priority for providers. Further work is needed to explore affective behaviors and the prevalence of interrupting patients, considering differences in sex and provider experience.
479-491
Roberts, L.
0a937943-5246-4877-bd6b-4dcd172b5cd0
Whittle, C.
8df82fe7-6527-4281-b0b6-50b3ffc5c86c
Cleland, J.
9015a550-0b00-480c-85d8-88126d986570
Wald, M.
90577cfd-35ae-4e4a-9422-5acffecd89d5
April 2013
Roberts, L.
0a937943-5246-4877-bd6b-4dcd172b5cd0
Whittle, C.
8df82fe7-6527-4281-b0b6-50b3ffc5c86c
Cleland, J.
9015a550-0b00-480c-85d8-88126d986570
Wald, M.
90577cfd-35ae-4e4a-9422-5acffecd89d5
Roberts, L., Whittle, C., Cleland, J. and Wald, M.
(2013)
Measuring verbal communication in initial physical therapy encounters.
Physical Therapy, 93 (4), Spring Issue, .
(doi:10.2522/ptj.20120089).
Abstract
Background: Communication in clinical encounters is vital in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and clinician.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure verbal communication between physical therapists and patients with back pain during their initial consultation and trial management of the data using a novel, Web-based application.
Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted.
Methods: Nine musculoskeletal physical therapists and 27 patients with back pain participated in this study. Twenty-five initial consultations were observed, audio recorded, and categorized using the Medical Communications Behavior System. Data were managed using Synote, a freely available application enabling synchronization of audio recordings with transcripts and coded notes.
Results: In this sample, physical therapists spoke for 49.5% of the encounter and patients for 33.1%. Providers and patients spent little time overtly discussing emotions (1.4% and 0.9%, respectively). More-experienced clinicians used more “history/background probes,” more “advice/suggestion,” and less “restatement” than less-experienced staff, although they demonstrated a greater prevalence of talking concurrently and interrupting patients (7.6% compared with 2.6%).
Limitations: Although studies measuring actual behavior are considered to be the gold standard, audio recordings do not enable nonverbal behaviors to be recorded.
Conclusion: This study investigated a method for measuring the verbal content of clinical encounters in a physical therapy outpatient setting. The study has directly contributed to developing a research-friendly version of the application (ie, Synote Researcher). Given the pivotal role of communication in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and provider, investing time in further developing communication skills should be an on-going priority for providers. Further work is needed to explore affective behaviors and the prevalence of interrupting patients, considering differences in sex and provider experience.
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Synote therapy paper.doc
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More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 November 2012
Published date: April 2013
Organisations:
Web & Internet Science, Physical & Rehabilitation Health
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 339275
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/339275
ISSN: 0031-9023
PURE UUID: aea48205-dd0e-495d-8f73-9974f901a858
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Date deposited: 28 May 2012 13:28
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:53
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Contributors
Author:
C. Whittle
Author:
J. Cleland
Author:
M. Wald
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