Journal of general internal medicine
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Physicians' interest in the health and well-being of their patients is a tenet of medical practice. Physicians' ability to act upon this interest by caring for and about their patients is central to high-quality clinical medicine and may affect burnout. To date, a strong theoretical and empirical understanding of physician caring does not exist. To establish a practical, evidence-based approach to improve health care delivery and potentially address physician burnout, we sought to identify and synthesize existing conceptual models, frameworks, and definitions of physician caring. ⋯ Caring is instrumental to clinical medicine. However, scientific understanding of what constitutes caring from physicians is limited by contradictions across concepts. A unifying concept of physician caring does not yet exist. This review proposes six aspects of physician caring which can be used to develop evidence-based approaches to improve health care delivery and potentially mitigate physician burnout.
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Women veterans experience higher levels of stress-related symptoms than their civilian counterparts. Psychological stress is associated with greater inflammation and may increase risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been found to improve psychological well-being in other populations but no randomized controlled trials (RCT) have been conducted examining the impact of MBSR on well-being and inflammation in women veterans at risk for CVD. ⋯ MBSR was found to improve psychological well-being and decrease diurnal salivary cortisol in women veterans at risk for CVD. Health care providers may consider MBSR for women veterans as a means by which to improve their psychological well-being.
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Sitting at the bedside may strengthen physician-patient communication and improve patient experience. Yet despite the potential benefits of sitting, hospital physicians, including resident physicians, may not regularly sit down while speaking with patients. ⋯ Patients perceived that residents sit infrequently. However, sitting was associated with other positive communication behaviors; this is compatible with the hypothesis that promoting sitting could improve overall patient perceptions of provider communication.