Effect of Teaching Motivational Interviewing Via Communication Coaching on Clinician and Patient Satisfaction in Primary Care and Pediatric Obesity-focused Offices

Objective: Studies indicate needed improvement in clinician communication and patient satisfaction. Motivational interviewing (MI) helps promote patient behavior change and improves satisfaction. In this pilot study, we tested a coaching intervention to teach MI to all clinic staff to improve clinician and patient satisfaction.

Methods: We included four clinics (n=29 staff members). In the intervention clinics (one primary care and one pediatric obesity-focused), we trained all clinic staff in MI through meetings as a group seven times, directly observing clinicians in practice 4-10 times, and providing real-time feedback on MI techniques. In all clinics, we assessed patient satisfaction via anonymous surveys and also assessed clinician burnout and self-rated MI skills.

Results: Clinicians in the intervention clinics reported improvements in burnout scores, self-rated MI skills, and perceived cohesion whereas clinicians in the control clinic reported worse scores. Patient satisfaction improved in the intervention clinics more than in the control clinics.

Conclusion: This is the first study to find some benefit of training an entire clinic staff in MI via a coaching model.

Practice Implications: It might help to train staff in MI to improve clinician satisfaction, team cohesion, perceived skills, and patient satisfaction.