Empathic Communication Between Physician Assistant Students and Patients: Perceptual Differences and Genetic Antecedents

• In Event: Interpersonal Communication in the Health Care Context: Patients and Providers in Interaction

Abstract

In the relationship between health care providers and their patients, few interpersonal characteristics are as consequential as the providers’ ability to convey empathy. Although a robust literature attests to the importance of physician communication skills—particularly those related to empathy—in the provider-patient relationship, remarkably few studies have examined empathic communication by physician assistants, who provide primary care for an increasing number of Americans. The present study assesses empathic communication between physician assistant students and standardized patients. Each student conducted three interviews over a six-month period, and each interview was evaluated for empathy by the students themselves, their patients, their clinical instructors, and third-party observers. Students also provided saliva samples for genotyping six single-nucleotide polymorphisms on the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) that are linked empirically to empathic behavior. Results revealed that students consistently rated their empathic abilities as higher than did patients, instructors, or observers, and that the assessments of all four raters varied over time. Moreover, cumulative risk on OXTR receptor gene predicted lower patient empathy scores as rated by instructors and observers, but not by students or students.

Authors

• Kory Floyd, Arizona State U

• Mark Generous, Arizona State U

• Lou Clark, Arizona State U

• Albert Simon, A. T. Still U

• Ian McLeod, A. T. Still U