Patients were nearly four times more likely to say their pain was well-controlled during multiple blood draws when their healthcare provider was seen as courteous, according to Chicago researchers.
“It’s not surprising that a courteous healthcare provider can improve the patient experience, but we were shocked at just how powerful that factor was,” said study author Mario Moric, M.S., a biostatistician at Rush University Medical Center.
Moric and colleagues expected participants’ perception of pain would rise along with the number of needle sticks they faced, but that was not what they found. “It turns out the experience of pain is much more significantly affected by the attitude of the people treating you,” said Moric.
More than 4,700 hospitalized adult participants took part in the study. Patients were hospitalized for a variety of reasons. The average length of stay was 5.3 days and the average number of blood draws was 3.8.
Participants were asked to rate their pain control and the courtesy of the person who drew their blood. People who gave their provider the highest marks for courtesy were more likely to rate their pain at the highest available measure for well-controlled.
The findings were presented this week at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2019 annual meeting.
