Social and Behavioral Influence (SBI) — SBI  

Communication Clinical Trial

Official title: Social and Behavioral Influences on Clinical Care

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of the study is to improve patient-physician communication and clinical decisions in the context of serious illness that may affect important clinical outcomes. The investigators will examine how variations in communication patterns and clinical decisions are affected by patient demographics (e.g age, sex), patient interactional style (e.g. communication behaviors) and physician characteristics (e.g. attitudes, background, training).

Clinical Trial Description

This will be a randomized field experiment. Physicians will receive two unannounced covert standardized patient (SP) visits during the 12-24 months after enrollment. SPs are trained actors who will pose as patients to assess physician behavior and communication. Each SP will present just like a real patient, and will have a standardized fabricated scenario and identity. The SP visit will be unannounced; the physician will not be informed at the time of the visit that they are seeing an SP. The visits will be covertly audio-recorded. This is being conducted at 3 sites: University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; Purdue, IN; and University of Michigan. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Communication

• NCT number: NCT01501006
• Study type: Observational
• Source: University of Rochester
• Status: Completed
• Start date: October 2010
• Completion date: March 2017