CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 113Patient-Provider Communication in HealthcareEmpathy and Medical EducationPrimary Care and Health Outcomes

Physician Self-disclosure in Primary Care Visits: Enough About You, What About Me?

McDaniel, Susan H.·2007·Archives of Internal Medicine
DOI 10.1001/archinte.167.12.1321
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The value of physician self-disclosure (MD-SD) in creating successful patient-physician partnerships has not been demonstrated. METHODS: To describe antecedents, delivery, and effects of MD-SD in primary care visits, we conducted a descriptive study using sequence analysis of transcripts of 113 unannounced, undetected, standardized patient visits to primary care physicians. Our main outcome measures were the number of MD-SDs per visit; number of visits with MD-SDs; word count; antecedents, timing, and effect of MD-SD on subsequent physician and patient communication; content and focus of MD-SD. RESULTS: The MD-SDs included discussion of personal emotions and experiences, families and/or relationships, professional descriptions, and personal experiences with the patient's diagnosis. Seventy-three MD-SDs were identified in 38 (34%) of 113 visits. Ten MD-SDs (14%) were a response to a patient question. Forty-four (60%) followed patient symptoms, family, or feelings; 29 (40%) were unrelated. Only 29 encounters (21%) returned to the patient topic preceding the disclosure. Most MD-SDs (n=62; 85%) were not considered useful to the patient by the research team. Eight MD-SDs (11%) were coded as disruptive. CONCLUSIONS: Practicing primary care physicians disclosed information about themselves or their families in 34% of new visits with unannounced, undetected, standardized patients. There was no evidence of positive effect of MD-SDs; some appeared disruptive. Primary care physicians should consider when self-disclosing whether other behaviors such as empathy might accomplish their goals more effectively.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1001/archinte.167.12.1321

Cites

29 of 29 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Research indicates that doctors' self-disclosures in clinical settings may not benefit patients and can sometimes be disruptive.

    “Research suggests that physician selfdisclosures in the clinical setting may not help patients and, in some cases, may be a disruptive influence.”

    From Social Media and Clinical Care: Ethical, Professional, and Social Implications (2013) · cites this paper as [67]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
McDaniel, S. H.
Affiliations
University of Rochester Medicine (US)
Corresponding author
McDaniel, Susan H.
ORCID
McDaniel, Susan H.
Venue
Archives of Internal Medicine
Publisher
American Medical Association (AMA)
Published
2007-06-25
Volume
167
Issue
12
Pages
1321
ISSN
0003-9926 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1001/archinte.167.12.1321
OpenAlex
W2130888942
Cited by
113
References
29
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
FWCI
20.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Archives of Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01-HS1610-01A1)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Empathy and Medical Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Primary Care and Health Outcomes
Keywords
physician self-disclosure, primary care visits, patient-physician communication, physician-patient partnership, standardized patients, physician emotions, family disclosure, empathy
MeSH terms
Adult, Clinical Competence, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, New York, Office Visits, Physician-Patient Relations, Physicians, Family, Self Disclosure, Patient Satisfaction

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review