Enhancing Your Webside Manner: Optimizing Opportunities for Relationship-Centered Care in Virtual Visits

Abstract

In the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, virtual visits have become the primary means of delivering efficient, high-quality, and safe health care while Americans are instructed to stay at home until the rapid transmission of the virus abates. An important variable in the quality of any patient–clinician interaction, including virtual visits, is how adroit the clinician is at forming a relationship. This article offers a review of the research that exists on forming a relationship in a virtual visit and the outcomes of a quality improvement project which resulted in the refinement of a “Communication Tip Sheet” that can be used with virtual visits. It also offers several communication strategies predicated on the R.E.D.E. to Communicate model that can be used when providing care virtually.

Cancer Treatment During COVID-19: A Qualitative Analysis of Patient-Perceived Risks and Experiences with Virtual Care

“…Considering the expansive use of telemedicine during the pandemic, providers must adopt strategies for achieving virtual empathy and ensuring the continuity of this supportive patient-centered care (41)(42)(43). Some such approaches for "digital empathy" and preserving relationship-centered care have been disseminated in response to COVID-19, emphasizing the shift in verbal and body language needed to achieve online rapport and trust (44)(45)(46)(47). Further, techniques to establish an intentional "webside manner" may help to sustain the empathic connection so valued by patients described herein (46).…”

“…Some such approaches for "digital empathy" and preserving relationship-centered care have been disseminated in response to COVID-19, emphasizing the shift in verbal and body language needed to achieve online rapport and trust (44)(45)(46)(47). Further, techniques to establish an intentional "webside manner" may help to sustain the empathic connection so valued by patients described herein (46).…”

Teaching Telemedicine: The Next Frontier for Medical Educators

“…Some more recent work has helped elucidate how the core principles of patient-centered care can be applied to telemedicine. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, some institutions developed checklists or principles to guide clinicians on how to carry in-person patient-centered communication into the virtual world [5,6]. Others have recommended helping patients understand their role in telemedicine communication, emphasizing the importance of preparing for and engaging in virtual visits [2].…”

“…At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual visits allowed clinicians to provide care to their ambulatory patients in a safe manner; however, for most clinicians, the speed at which they were forced to transition their practices to telemedicine did not allow time for thoughtful planning about the integration of patient-centered care practices and trainee education. Virtual visits continue to constitute a significant portion of outpatient care, and although guidance exists on how to make virtual visits more effective and patient-centered [2][3][4][5][6], we suspect many clinicians across various specialties are finding it difficult to master patient-centered virtual visit practices, all while trying to educate their students, residents, and fellows on the same topic. Furthermore, trainees and faculty may not be in the same physical space for virtual clinic sessions, which creates further challenges for integrating trainees into new workflows.…”

The Virtual Doctor Is In: The Effect of Telehealth Visits on Patient Experience

“…Additionally, recent research suggests that virtual visits affect clinician behavior and communication [10,11] compared to in-person visits. Recommended behaviors such as maintaining a neutral posture and eye contact can help provide patients with a "webside manner" [6,[12][13][14]. However, there is still a need for more research that examines how these virtual environments affect the patient and their experience.…”