Purpose

To quantify the prevalence of social and behavioral sciences (SBS) topics during patient care and to rate team response to these topics once introduced.

Method

This cross-sectional study used five independent raters to observe 80 inpatient ward teams on internal medicine and pediatric services during attending rounds at two academic hospitals over a five-month period. Patient-level primary outcomes-prevalence of SBS topic discussions and rate of positive responses to discussions-were captured using an observational tool and summarized at the team level using hierarchical models. Teams were scored on patient- and learner-centered behaviors.

Results

Observations were made of 80 attendings, 83 residents, 75 interns, 78 medical students, and 113 allied health providers. Teams saw a median of 8.0 patients per round (collectively, 622 patients), and 97.1% had at least one SBS topic arise (mean = 5.3 topics per patient). Common topics were pain (62%), nutrition (53%), social support (52%), and resources (39%). After adjusting for team characteristics, the number of discussion topics raised varied significantly among the four services and was associated with greater patient-centeredness. When topics were raised, 38% of teams' responses were positive. Services varied with respect to learner- and patient-centeredness, with most services above average for learner-centered, and below average for patient-centered behaviors.

Conclusions

Of 30 SBS topics tracked, some were addressed commonly and others rarely. Multivariable analyses suggest that medium-sized teams can address SBS concerns by increasing time per patient and consistently adopting patient-centered behaviors.