Effect of teaching motivational interviewing via communication coaching on clinician and patient satisfaction in primary care and pediatric obesity-focused offices

• Clinic staff can learn MI techniques via a coaching model.
• Learning as a team improves perceived team cohesion.
• Learning MI improves perceived burnout.
• Learning MI can improve patient satisfaction.

ObjectiveStudies 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.MethodsWe 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.ResultsClinicians 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.ConclusionThis is the first study to find some benefit of training an entire clinic staff in MI via a coaching model.Practice implicationsIt might help to train staff in MI to improve clinician satisfaction, team cohesion, perceived skills, and patient satisfaction.