Associations between the severity of medical and surgical complications and perception of surgeon empathy in esophageal and gastric cancer patients
Details
State: Public
Version: Author's accepted manuscript
License: Not specified
Serval ID
serval:BIB_E7ACEC4FF534
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Associations between the severity of medical and surgical complications and perception of surgeon empathy in esophageal and gastric cancer patients
Journal
Supportive Care in Cancer: Official Journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
Working group(s)
Group, FREGAT Working
ISSN
1433-7339
Publication state
Published
Issued date
06/2021
Language
english
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of global physician empathy and its three subdimensions (establishing rapport, emotional and cognitive processes) on the severity of postoperative complications in a sample of cancer patients.
METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data on 256 patients with esogastric cancer from the French national FREGAT database. Empathy and its subdimensions were assessed using the patient-reported CARE scale and the severity of medical and surgical complications was reported with the Clavien-Dindo classification system. The usual covariates were included in multinomial logistic regression analyses.
RESULTS: Physician empathy predicted the odds of reporting major complications. When patients perceived high empathy, they were less likely to report major complications compared to no complications (OR = .95, 95\% CI = [.91-.99], p = .029). Among the three dimensions, only "establishing rapport" (OR = .84, 95\% CI = [.73-.98], p = .019) and the "emotional process" (OR = .85, 95\% CI = [.74-.98], p = .022) predicted major complications.
CONCLUSIONS: Physician empathy is essential before surgery. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms associating empathy with health outcomes in cancer. Physicians should be trained to establish good rapport with patients, especially in the preoperative period.
METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data on 256 patients with esogastric cancer from the French national FREGAT database. Empathy and its subdimensions were assessed using the patient-reported CARE scale and the severity of medical and surgical complications was reported with the Clavien-Dindo classification system. The usual covariates were included in multinomial logistic regression analyses.
RESULTS: Physician empathy predicted the odds of reporting major complications. When patients perceived high empathy, they were less likely to report major complications compared to no complications (OR = .95, 95\% CI = [.91-.99], p = .029). Among the three dimensions, only "establishing rapport" (OR = .84, 95\% CI = [.73-.98], p = .019) and the "emotional process" (OR = .85, 95\% CI = [.74-.98], p = .022) predicted major complications.
CONCLUSIONS: Physician empathy is essential before surgery. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms associating empathy with health outcomes in cancer. Physicians should be trained to establish good rapport with patients, especially in the preoperative period.
Keywords
Cancer, Empathy, Patient-physician communication, Postoperative complications
Pubmed
Create date
21/10/2021 10:54
Last modification date
02/11/2023 13:54
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