Improving Surgical Communication for Patients in Wisconsin

This study is testing a new training program called "Better Conversations" to help surgeons communicate more effectively with their patients. The goal is to make sure you get all the information you need to make the best decisions about your surgery. Surgeons at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Surgery will receive this training. If you are an adult patient (18 or older) considering surgery with an enrolled surgeon at UW Health, you might be able to join. The study will measure how well this training improves surgeon communication, with results expected up to 4 years from now. The current recruitment status is unclear.

Study design
This interventional study plans to enroll 580 participants, including surgeons, surgical candidates, and stakeholders. It is not specified if this is a randomized or blinded study.
What's involved
Participants will complete surveys, attend a focus group, or receive training on the Better Conversations framework, depending on their role in the study.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
The study will measure the effects of the training program and compare different training methods for up to 4 years.

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NCT06647303

Improving Surgical Communication for Patients in Wisconsin

Recruiting
NAAges 18+InterventionalHealth services
University of Wisconsin, Madison
~580 participants
Updated 2025-10-22 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Training on communication frameworkFocus GroupSurveys

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Effect of automated training program
Measured over Up to 4 years
+1 more outcome measured
Surgeons
Surgical Procedure, Unspecified
1 sites across 1 states
Wisconsin1
  • Margaret (Gretchen) Schwarze, MD, MPP · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · University of Wisconsin, Madison

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

Surgeons from University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Surgery who have an outpatient surgical clinic and treat adult patients at UW Health
Age 18 or older
Present to an enrolled surgeon's clinic with a surgical problem
Decision making ability
Speak English
Must have previous experience with surgery (within 10 years)
Speak English

Exclusion

Solely treat minors (under age 18)
Lacking decision making capacity
Unable to speak English
Unable to speak English
  • Effect of automated training programUp to 4 years

    Specialists will train 10 surgeons, audio recording 150 surgical consultations with surgical candidates. 100 audio recordings will be used as a training set to develop an automated assessment and feedback program. 50 recordings will be used to measure fidelity to the intervention with a summative assessment. 10 additional surgeons will be trained using the automated training and researchers will audio record 150 more surgical consultations with surgical candidates. Automated feedback will be provided for 100 of the consultations and researchers will measure fidelity to the automated intervention with a summative assessment of 50 consultations. The effect of the automated training program will be tested by comparing summative assessments of surgeon performance between the two differently-trained groups. Summative assessments to identify strengths and weaknesses of the automated training program will be used to revise the training iteratively for future study.

  • Compare effectiveness of specialist-delivered training versus automated training on participant-reported measures of surgeon communicationUp to 4 years

    Researchers will compare surgical candidate participant survey results between surgeons who received specialist-delivered training versus those who received automated training.