Do Patients Perceive Surgeons Who Provide Personal Information as More Trustworthy and Empathetic?

NCT04213625 | Withdrawn

• 1 other identifier: 2019-06-0047
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: N/A
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Prior studies have shown that patient trust in their physician is associated with better health outcomes and lower levels of emotional distress. Patients who have low levels of trust in their physician are less satisfied and less likely to adhere to their physician recommendations. As such, there is a need to better understand factors related to patient trust in their physician. Purpose: To understand whether patient awareness of a surgeon's personal background improves patient trust in their surgeon.

Conditions

Trust

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Wake Forest -Trust in Physician score

  Before the clinic visit, the research assistant will give patients a sheet that gives them info on their surgeon. Control group will receive an information sheet with only their surgeon's educational background. Experimental group will receive an information sheet with their surgeon's educational and personal background. Immediately after the clinic visit, the research assistant will ask patients to complete Wake Forest Trust in physician survey. Response choices (coding) are: Strongly Agree (5), Agree (4), Neutral (3), Disagree (2), Strongly Disagree (1). Responses are summed (range 5-25) with higher scores indicating more trust.

  Immediately after the clinic visit, patients are given the survey to complete.

• Jefferson Scale of Perceived Physician Empathy

  Before the clinic visit, the research assistant will give patients a sheet that gives them info on their surgeon. Control group will receive an information sheet with only their surgeon's educational background. Experimental group will receive an information sheet with their surgeon's educational and personal background. Immediately after the clinic visit, the research assistant will ask patients to complete the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy. Each item is answered on a 7-point Likert-type scale (from Strongly Disagree = 1 to Strongly Agree = 7), with higher score indicating more empathy.

  Immediately after the clinic visit, patients are given the survey to complete.

Study Arms (2)

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

Information sheet with only their surgeon's educational background.

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Experimental group will receive an information sheet with their surgeon's educational and personal background.

Other: Surgeon Personal Background

Interventions

Surgeon Personal Background OTHER

Experimental group will receive an information sheet with their surgeon's educational and personal background. Personal Background * Favorite outdoor activity/form of exercise * Favorite hobby * Family information (children, pets) * Single sentence about how the clinician conceptualizes excellent patient care

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 89 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Patients (age 18 years or greater) visiting a single orthopaedic hand surgeon
• English fluency and literacy
• Ability to take informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Texas at Austin: lead

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor, Dean associate of surgery department

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 23, 2019
• First Posted: December 30, 2019
• Study Start: August 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2025
• Study Completion: August 1, 2025
• Last Updated: July 31, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-07