Empathy in patient-clinician interactions when using telecommunication: a rapid review of the evidence
Empathy in patient-clinician interactions when using telecommunication: a rapid review of the evidence
OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the replacement of many face-to-face healthcare consultations with telephone consultations. Little is known about the extent to which empathy can be expressed in telephone consultations. Our objective is to review evidence related to empathy in telephone consultations including clinical outcomes, and patient/practitioner experiences.
METHODS: Searches of Medline/Ovid and PsycINFO/Ovid were undertaken. Titles and abstract screening, data extraction, and risk of bias were undertaken by two reviewers. Discrepancies were resolved in discussion with additional reviewers. Included studies were specific to tele-communications with empirical data on empathy related to patient outcomes/views, published (in English), 2010-2021. Studies that did not mention empathy explicitly were excluded.
RESULTS: Our search yielded 740 individual records and 8 studies (527 patients, 20 practitioners) met inclusion criteria: Some barriers to expression of empathy were noted, but no major obstacles were reported. However, data was sparse and most studies had a high risk of bias.
CONCLUSION: Empathy in telephone consultations is possible, (though the loss of non-verbal cues and touch can present barriers) however the research does not yet identify how.
INNOVATION: It is possible to establish and display empathy in telephone consultations, but future research needs to identify how this can be optimized.
FUNDING: This work was supported by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research grant (project number 389). The University of Southampton's Primary Care Department is a member of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research and supported by NIHR Research funds. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Protocol registration.
PROSPERO (CRD42021238087).
100065
Budd, Georgina
eb7f1fd3-6c53-4704-93cf-a3a74ae6c320
Vennik, Jane
6ee78166-5a7a-433b-87fc-018771f20b19
Griffiths, Dan
498ef6e8-769f-45af-b0cf-9dcec3e7e67d
Howick, Jeremy
0d21085b-6b93-4a4e-8d87-1cc3a83f8768
Bishop, Felicity
1f5429c5-325f-4ac4-aae3-6ba85d079928
Durieux, Nancy
e5dbead6-8578-4eb1-8a30-520b67d0e30c
Everitt, Hazel
80b9452f-9632-45a8-b017-ceeeee6971ef
December 2022
Budd, Georgina
eb7f1fd3-6c53-4704-93cf-a3a74ae6c320
Vennik, Jane
6ee78166-5a7a-433b-87fc-018771f20b19
Griffiths, Dan
498ef6e8-769f-45af-b0cf-9dcec3e7e67d
Howick, Jeremy
0d21085b-6b93-4a4e-8d87-1cc3a83f8768
Bishop, Felicity
1f5429c5-325f-4ac4-aae3-6ba85d079928
Durieux, Nancy
e5dbead6-8578-4eb1-8a30-520b67d0e30c
Everitt, Hazel
80b9452f-9632-45a8-b017-ceeeee6971ef
Budd, Georgina, Vennik, Jane, Griffiths, Dan, Howick, Jeremy, Bishop, Felicity, Durieux, Nancy and Everitt, Hazel
(2022)
Empathy in patient-clinician interactions when using telecommunication: a rapid review of the evidence.
PEC Innovation, 1, , [100065].
(doi:10.1016/j.pecinn.2022.100065).
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the replacement of many face-to-face healthcare consultations with telephone consultations. Little is known about the extent to which empathy can be expressed in telephone consultations. Our objective is to review evidence related to empathy in telephone consultations including clinical outcomes, and patient/practitioner experiences.
METHODS: Searches of Medline/Ovid and PsycINFO/Ovid were undertaken. Titles and abstract screening, data extraction, and risk of bias were undertaken by two reviewers. Discrepancies were resolved in discussion with additional reviewers. Included studies were specific to tele-communications with empirical data on empathy related to patient outcomes/views, published (in English), 2010-2021. Studies that did not mention empathy explicitly were excluded.
RESULTS: Our search yielded 740 individual records and 8 studies (527 patients, 20 practitioners) met inclusion criteria: Some barriers to expression of empathy were noted, but no major obstacles were reported. However, data was sparse and most studies had a high risk of bias.
CONCLUSION: Empathy in telephone consultations is possible, (though the loss of non-verbal cues and touch can present barriers) however the research does not yet identify how.
INNOVATION: It is possible to establish and display empathy in telephone consultations, but future research needs to identify how this can be optimized.
FUNDING: This work was supported by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research grant (project number 389). The University of Southampton's Primary Care Department is a member of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research and supported by NIHR Research funds. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Protocol registration.
PROSPERO (CRD42021238087).
Text
1-s2.0-S2772628222000504-main
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 12 July 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 16 July 2022
Published date: December 2022
Additional Information:
© 2022 The Authors.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 469434
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469434
ISSN: 2772-6282
PURE UUID: be43275d-64d6-459b-8334-4364091cd4ea
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 14 Sep 2022 16:51
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:46
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Georgina Budd
Author:
Dan Griffiths
Author:
Jeremy Howick
Author:
Nancy Durieux
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
