The Effect of the Physical Environment on Palliative Care Conversations
Hirsch, Laura Elizabeth
Hirsch, Laura Elizabeth
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Abstract
Palliative care improves the quality of life for people who are seriously ill, and the primary mechanism of action is communication through conversation. Little is understood about the factors that influence the process of such conversations. The immediate physical environment can affect how people interact with one another in conversation. Understanding the environmental factors that can influence the process of these conversations is necessary for encouraging effective communication in this field. We analyzed the audio data from a cross sectional study of 361 conversations between hospitalized seriously ill patients and their clinicians. We documented temperature, noise level, smell, foot traffic, room type, and lighting at the time of the conversation. All audio recordings were transcribed in a standard format, and natural language processing analysis was conducted to extract variables such as word volume, turns, and duration. We observed a dose dependent association between decreasing temperature and frequency of speaker turns. Noise was inversely related to the turns per minute and clinicians used fewer words in rooms with unpleasant smells. Immediate environmental factors are associated with how people engage with one another in palliative care conversations.
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2019-01-01
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Undergraduate
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Oral Paper Presentation
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Statistics
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College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
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Health Sciences