Enhancing empathy and communication skills through patient-centered conferences: An innovative approach in medical education.

407 Background: Effective communication in the intensive care unit (ICU) is essential for high-quality care, yet residents often receive limited training in this area. This study introduces Patient-Centered Conferences (PCCs) integrating didactic teaching with direct patient interaction as an innovative approach to address this gap in medical education. Methods: As part of an ongoing randomized crossover study utilizing a mixed-methods approach, 28 internal medicine residents were invited to attend three PCCs between November 2024 and February 2025. Each 60-minute PCC included a case presentation on a patient who had been discharged from the ICU within the last 8 months, followed by a patient interaction component with the same patient, exploring their ICU and post-discharge experiences. Quantitative data from pre- and post-conference surveys were analyzed using unpaired t-tests for the first two PCCs and paired t-tests for the third PCC. Qualitative insights were drawn from six semi-structured resident interviews and 38 free-text survey responses. Changes in empathy were assessed using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and analyzed with a linear mixed effects regression model. Results: Qualitative analysis revealed themes of enhanced empathy, shared decision-making and patient-centered approaches, increased awareness of the ICU patient experience, and the value of learning through real patient stories. Quantitative outcomes are summarized in Table 1. A linear mixed effects regression analysis of JSPE scores, accounting for sequence, carryover, period, level of training, and gender, found no statistically significant difference in empathy levels between residents who attended PCCs and the control group (estimate: -0.96, 95% CI: -5.66 to 3.74, p = 0.66). Conclusions: Findings from our study suggest that PCCs are an effective tool for enhancing resident communication skills and understanding of patient experiences. Measured empathy levels did not significantly change however, likely due to the limited number of sessions. These findings highlight the potential for PCCs to meaningfully shift residents' perspectives on patient interaction beyond traditional medical education and can serve as a valuable addition to didactics curricula. Quantitative outcomes of pre- and post-conference surveys across four domains. Domain 1st and 2nd Conference (unpaired t test) 3rd Conference (paired t test) Pre-Mean Post-Mean (Δ) P-Value Pre-Mean Post-Mean (Δ) P-Value Confidence in communicating with ICU patients 3.64 4.13 (+0.50) 0.014 3.83 4.00 (+0.17) 0.166 Understanding psychological/ emotional challenges 3.57 4.08 (+0.50) 0.001 3.58 4.08 (+0.50) 0.026 Understanding post-discharge challenges 3.09 3.88 (+0.90) 0.001 3.33 4.08 (+0.75) <0.001 Preparedness for difficult family conversations 3.43 3.63 (+0.20) 0.458 3.42 4.25 (+0.83) 0.002