Effects of Photographic Aids (Photos of Faces) on Clinician-patient Communication Clinical Trial
Official title:
Put a Face to a Name (Part A): The Effects of Photographic Aids on Patient Satisfaction,Clinician Communication, and Quality of Care
Communication is critical within healthcare, and is the root cause of most errors. With
increased adoption and use of new information technologies and mediated communication
systems, such as Electronic Health Records (EHR), that support visual content, hospitals can
begin to look at the potential of photographic aids to improve patient satisfaction,
clinician communication, and ultimately quality of care. Having pictures of clinicians and
patients may improve communication by improving knowledge of who is part of the care team
and may reduce electronic ordering or documentation on the wrong patient.
Despite the importance of communication between clinicians and the many advances within
information and communication technologies, there is a lack of literature documenting
systems that are effective at improving communication. Our research study will provide an
overview on the communication models and technologies used in Canadian hospitals and add
insights to the impacts of these technological adoption.
Research Question: How does the use of photographic influence patients' hospital experience?
Specifically, do photographic aids (photographs of clinicians' faces) influence:
1. Patient's ability to identify their clinical care team members
2. Patient's ability to identify their care team members and know their individual roles
3. Patient's satisfaction with their hospital experience
The investigators will conduct interviews of a cross-sectional sample of patients for up to
one year. There will be 2 visits during the study. The first visit should last for 15
minutes (to get consent), the second visit should last somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes.
The research team created a structured survey tool designed to characterize patients'
knowledge of the names and roles of their health care professionals and understanding of
their plan of care, which includes some semi-structured questions to assess patient
satisfaction with their hospital experience. This survey tool will be administered to
participating patients each weekday during the study period, prior to their discharge from
the hospital.
At the first visit, depending on whether the participant was previously assigned to group A,
B or C, participants will be provided with a piece of paper listing the names of the members
of their clinical care team (group B), or a piece of paper with a list of names and
photographs of the members of their clinical care team (group C), or no paper at all (group
A) which is currently the typical communication experience at the hospital.
There is no compensation for participation in the study.
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Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Supportive Care