Physician expression of empathy and positiveness to Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients during medical encounters.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study examined the extent to which physicians expressed empathy and positiveness to Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients during primary care visits. METHODS: Twenty-seven family practice and internal medicine resident physicians at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center were audiotaped in 1995 with 427 adult patients who were fluent in English or Spanish. The tapes were reviewed and organized to measure how frequently physicians expressed empathy and positiveness to patients. RESULTS: Physicians expressed empathy at equal rates to Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients. When examining only Hispanic patients, physicians were significantly more likely to express empathy to patients who they knew better. Physicians expressed positiveness to non-Hispanic white patients more often than to Hispanic patients. When examining only Hispanic patients, physicians were more likely to express positiveness to patients who they knew better, who rated their health better, and who were more educated. When examining only non-Hispanic white patients, physicians were more likely to express positiveness to older and male patients than to younger and female patients. Also, female and younger physicians were significantly more likely to express positiveness to non-Hispanic white patients than male and older physicians were. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings illustrate that the resident physicians expressed empathy equally well to Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients but that resident physicians need further training on how to express positiveness to patients from different ethnic backgrounds, especially Hispanic patients.