Improving perceptions of empathy in patients undergoing low-yield computerized tomographic imaging in the emergency department.

Objective: We assessed emergency department (ED) patient perceptions of how physicians can improve their language to determine patient preferences for 11 phrases to enhance physician empathy toward the goal of reducing low-value advanced imaging.

Methods: Multi-center survey study of low-risk ED patients undergoing computerized tomography (CT) scanning.

Results: We enroled 305 participants across nine sites.