JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Direct observation of medical trainees with actual patients is important for performance-based clinical skills assessment. Multiple tools for direct observation are available, but their characteristics and outcomes have not been compared systematically. ⋯ Although many tools are available for the direct observation of clinical skills, validity evidence and description of educational outcomes are scarce.
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Clinical Trial
Association of an educational program in mindful communication with burnout, empathy, and attitudes among primary care physicians.
Primary care physicians report high levels of distress, which is linked to burnout, attrition, and poorer quality of care. Programs to reduce burnout before it results in impairment are rare; data on these programs are scarce. ⋯ Participation in a mindful communication program was associated with short-term and sustained improvements in well-being and attitudes associated with patient-centered care. Because before-and-after designs limit inferences about intervention effects, these findings warrant randomized trials involving a variety of practicing physicians.