Nonverbal sensitivity in medical students: implications for clinical interactions.

Background: Clinicians' accuracy in perceiving nonverbal cues has potentially important consequences, but has received insufficient research.

Objective: To examine the relation of medical students' nonverbal sensitivity to their gender and personal traits, as well as to their communication and impressions made during a standardized patient (SP) visit.

Design: Psychometric testing, questionnaire, and observation.

Is it good to express uncertainty to a patient? Correlates and consequences for medical students in a standardized patient visit.

Objective: To examine the consequences of expressions of uncertainty (EOUs) in medical student interactions, with a particular focus on the gender of the expressor.

Methods: EOUs were identified in 147 videotaped interactions between third-year medical students and standardized patients enacting four medical scenarios. The encounters were also analyzed using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).

Observer-rated rapport in interactions between medical students and standardized patients.

Objective: To measure rapport between medical students and standardized patients using observer ratings; to relate these ratings to students' emotional awareness and to behavior within the medical interaction; and to assess the relative validity of using excerpts of different lengths for the measurement of rapport.

Methods: Third-year medical students (N=141) were videotaped during a 15-min interaction with a standardized patient, and rapport as well as other communication variables were measured using trained coders. Rapport was measured with good interrater reliability by trained coders who viewed three 1-min excerpts.

A randomized controlled trial of an intervention to reduce low literacy barriers in inflammatory arthritis management.

Objective: Test the efficacy of educational interventions to reduce literacy barriers and enhance health outcomes among patients with inflammatory arthritis.

Methods: The intervention consisted of plain language information materials and/or two individualized sessions with an arthritis educator. Randomization was stratified by education level.

Predictors of refusal during a multi-step recruitment process for a randomized controlled trial of arthritis education.

Objective: Randomized controlled trials in patient education often have difficulty enrolling vulnerable populations-specifically, older, poorer, and less educated individuals. We undertook a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an educational intervention for arthritis management, which included strategies to remove literacy-related barriers to participation. This paper reports on the multi-stage recruitment process and assesses whether refusal to participate was related to education, age, gender, working status, or insurance status.

Medical student gender and issues of confidence.

Objective: To review the literature on gender differences and issues of self-confidence in medical students and to present original research on observers' perceptions of medical student confidence.

Methods: One hundred forty-one 3rd year medical students at Indiana University School of Medicine were videotaped during their objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Trained coders rated how confident the student appeared and coded a variety of nonverbal behaviors at the beginning, middle, and end of the interaction.

A website to improve asthma care by suggesting patient questions for physicians: qualitative analysis of user experiences.

Background: Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in the United States, yet despite the existence of national guidelines, nearly three fourths of patients with asthma do not have adequate control and clinical adherence to guidelines is low. While there are many reasons for this, physician inertia with respect to treatment change is partly to blame. Research suggests that patients who ask for specific tests and treatments are more likely to receive them.

Factors determining participation in prevention trials among systemic lupus erythematosus patients: a qualitative study.

Objective: A feasibility study for a trial of strategies for the prevention of atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was stopped because of inadequate recruitment. There is little understanding of the factors influencing patients' decisions about participation in prevention trials. Our goal was to determine factors that patients with SLE consider in deciding about participating in prevention trials, to uncover concerns about SLE trials, and to investigate how study design and purpose affect participation decisions.