Jette Ammentorp

• Professor at Odense University Hospital

BACKGROUND Surgical ward rounds (SWRs) are often unstructured and deprioritized compared to traditional surgical tasks, leading to limited interdisciplinary collaboration, unprepared patients, and low family attendance. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to design and develop a digital framework to facilitate a shared agenda for SWRs, ensuring all core pa...

Background: Approximately one-third of patient appointments in Danish health care result in failures, leading to patient risk and sizable resource waste. Existing interventions to alleviate no-shows often target the patients. The underlying reason behind these interventions is a view that attendance or nonattendance is solely the patient's problem....

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to conduct and evaluate the Blended Learning communication skills training program. The key objective was to investigate (i) how clinical intervention studies can be designed to include cognitive, organizational, and interactive processes, and (ii) how researchers and practitioners could work with integrated met...

Objectives: A sense of existential vulnerability is embedded in parenthood transition. It is linked to meaning in life, relationship changes, awareness of death, and sometimes a transcendent belief. Nevertheless, in most maternity service guidelines, the existential aspects of life are not an explicit focus. Therefore, this study aimed to explore...

Background: Rehabilitation that supports the individual on the journey back to their usual selves after cancer treatment becomes increasingly important. Studies have shown that a focus on the connection between body and mind might be beneficial. Consequently, Whole Person Care and initiatives that fall in line with this holistic approach to health...

Stage of review at the time of submission of protocol to Zenodo: Preliminary literature search and piloting of the study selection process are completed. Studies are uploaded to Covidence, and title/abstract screening started Marts 21, 2023. 794 out of 5.720 titles/abstracts have been screened. Type of study Qualitative meta-synthesis Research ques...

Introduction Talking about existential issues with patients is often experienced as challenging for healthcare professionals. This paper describes our first steps towards developing existential communication training with particular attention to reflective learning methods. Blended learning was chosen to support reflection and an easier transition...

This study aimed to investigate the facilitators and barriers experienced by the department management (DMs) and communication skills trainers (trainers) during the implementation of a 3-day communication skills training (CST) programme for healthcare professionals (HCPs). Thus, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 DMs and 10 trainers fr...

Objective: This pre-post intervention study investigated the effectiveness of the Patient Care Board (PCB) as a tool to increase the participation of patients and relatives during hospital ward rounds. Methods: Using The Activity Barometer (TAB), we rated 121 video-recorded rounds to compare participation before and after implementing the PCB in...

Background Approximately one-third of patient appointments in Danish health care result in failures, leading to patient risk and sizable resource waste. Existing interventions to alleviate no-shows often target the patients. The underlying reason behind these interventions is a view that attendance or nonattendance is solely the patient’s problem....

BACKGROUND Approximately one third of patient appointments in Health Care fails. Failed appointments put patients at risk, and they create a sizeable “waste” of resources. Most interventions in health care target the patient. They do not always work and may lead to social biases and more health inequality. A more holistic understanding of no-shows...

Introduction: Self-monitoring of self-management interventions with the use of mobile health (mHealth) can enhance patients’ well-being. Research indicates that mHealth and health coaching act symbiotically to providing a more constructive outcome. Nurse coaches seem to have a significant role in translating the patients’ tracked data. Objective: T...

Despite the evidence that person-centred communication underpins all that we do in our interactions with patients, caregivers and team members, the knowledge about the implementation of systematic communication skills training is still in its infancy. This position paper describes some of the main contextual facilitators for translating knowledge a...

Background: This study aimed to investigate the facilitators and barriers experienced by department managements (DMs) and communication skills trainers (trainers) during the implementation of a 3-day communication skills training (CST) programme for healthcare professionals (HCPs). Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 DMs and...

Clinical decision‐making about participating in a clinical trial is a complex process influenced by overwhelming information about prognosis, disease, and treatment options. The study aimed to explore patients’ experiences of the decision‐making process when patients are presented with the opportunity to participate in a cancer clinical trial and t...

Background: This article illustrates how cognitive, organizational, and communicative/interactive processes can be included into the design of micro-skills interventions in healthcare. We present a model for integrating methods of cognitive ethnography and in situ simulation into clinical communication intervention studies to support the implementa...

Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of the Blended Communication Skills Training Program for Nurses (CSTN). The program aims to improve nurses’ knowledge about communication skills and structure for interactions with individuals who a have life limiting illness. Methods This was a quasi-experimental study using a pre- and post-test quiz and s...

BACKGROUND Observational management, such as Active Surveillance and Watchful Waiting, is shown to be feasible for men with low-risk localized prostate cancer and a safe alternative to aggressive treatment. During observational management, treatment is postponed until the disease progresses, which often never happens. However, approximately 90% of...

Background: Observational management strategies such as active surveillance and watchful waiting are considered to be acceptable approaches in patients with low-risk localized prostate cancer and a safe alternative to aggressive treatment. During observational management, treatment is postponed until the disease progresses, which often never happe...

Purpose: We hypothesized that health care providers would behave in a more patient-centered manner after the implementation of communication skills training, without causing the consultation to last longer. Methods: This study was part of the large-scale implementation of a communication skills training program called "Clear-Cut Communication With...

The authors regret this review included the HATICE study, on which in the quality rating (Table 2) it is erroneously stated that it did not have a control group, lacked a power analysis and did not perform inferential statistical analyses, where in fact all these were carefully designed and performed. Finally, the HATICE study focused on an interne...

Aim The aim of this study was to explore the meaning of a coaching intervention for cancer survivors. Background Cancer survivors often experience existential concerns and worries after adjuvant treatment. A number of “care transition interventions” have been developed to improve person-centred care by empowering patients. Several of these interve...

Objectives There are multitudes of existential feelings and considerations around childbirth, with both positive and negative sources of existential meaning; often they are mixed up, but they impact parents’ ideas of meaning and purpose in life. The aim of this study was to explore existential aspects of parenthood transition among new fathers and...

Background Patients with advanced cancer are faced with a wide variety of challenges and difficult treatment decisions made while in a vulnerable life‐threatening situation, including decisions about clinical trial participation. Internationally, there is a great focus on shared decision‐making as a way to help patients and healthcare professionals...

Background: Self-management approaches are widely used to improve chronic care. In this context, health care professionals call for efficient tools to engage patients in managing their illness. Mobile health (mHealth), defined by WHO as medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, is demonstrated to enhance self-management and he...

Objective As a part of an evaluation of a large-scale communication skills training (CST) programme, this study aimed to investigate the effect on health care professionals’ (HCPs) self-efficacy (SE) and perceived importance (PI) of the skills taught. Methods A pre-post intervention design was used, and 1647 HCPs responded to the SE-12 questionnai...

Research has shown that involving patients in decisions on treatment may have positive effects for patients. However, there are different understandings of what involving patients implies and different attitudes among physicians toward sharing decisions with patients. This study aimed to explore the attitude of patients with advanced prostate cance...

Objective and aim: Person-centred communication and healthcare professionals' ability to be attentively present in their encounter with patients are essential aspects of patients' experiences of well-being, ability to cope with illness-related challenges and feelings of being recognised. However, the ability to be attentive in relational encounter...

Objective To collect experiences and to identify the main facilitators and barriers for the implementation process of large scale communication training programs. Methods Using a multiple case study design, data was collected from leaders of the individual programs in Australia, Ireland, Austria and Denmark. The RE-AIM framework was used to evalua...

Background: The aim of the study was to confirm the validity and reliability of the Observation Scheme-12, a measurement tool for rating clinical communication skills. Methods: The study is a sub-study of an intervention study using audio recordings to assess the outcome of communication skills training. This paper describes the methods used to...

Highlights • Life coaching can be an important supplement to traditional diabetes treatment. • Through coaching sessions, young adults obtain better self-awareness. • Life coaching can improve young adults’ sense of well-being and personal empowerment. • Life coaching can strengthen young adult’s health-promoting initiatives. Objective The purpos...

Aims and objectives: The proposed study aimed to answer the following question: What communication issues do nurses find challenging when caring for people with life-limiting illness? Background: Evidence suggests that attitudes, skills and knowledge about how nurses communicate effectively with patients and their families could be improved. How...

Background: The rationale of the study was the predominant understanding that patient involvement in treatment-related decision-making is essential and that communication with cancer patients can affect their quality of life, satisfaction with care, and psychosocial and medical outcomes positively. Aim: This study explored how patients with adva...

Objective: While the ability to recall medical information is crucial, it is known to be a considerable challenge for many patients. Consequently, we aimed to investigate whether replay could enhance information recall and to explore the extent of information recall in a group of Danish outpatients. Methods: This study utilized a mixed-methods a...

Objective: To translate and cultural adapt the 14-item Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) into Norwegian and Danish, making them as similar as possible. Design: This was a translation and validation study including individual interviews for content and face validity and a patient survey for internal consistency and floor-ceiling effect. Settin...

This project is part of a larger research effort focusing on incorporating the patient's existential needs in the communicative encounter through communication training programs for healthcare professionals across the healthcare system. The purpose of this research project is to develop a generic blended-learning training course on existential matt...

Background, aims and objectives: Early detection and improved treatment possibilities have led to a rising number of long-term cancer survivors who have received adjuvant treatment. Moreover, the timeline from discovering cancer until treatment is initiated is very short. This entails sudden changes in their everyday life and many crucial decisions...

Background Being diagnosed with cancer is an existential challenge and involves difficult treatment decisions, including treatment in clinical trials. Therapy for advanced cancer is potentially life‐prolonging and only rarely cures advanced cancer, which often renders these patients in a special situation where dealing with end of life, hope and me...

Background: Being diagnosed with cancer is an existentialchallenge and involves difficult treatment decisions, including treatment in clinical trials. Therapy for advanced canceris potentially life-prolonging and only rarely cures advanced cancer, which often renders these patients in a special situation where dealing with end of life, hope and mea...

Many cancer patients experience a need to reflect on existential issues. Moreover, they may experience an increased sensitivity toward sensory impressions in their surroundings. However, there is only sparse research knowledge illuminating the meaning of nature in the form of "healing gardens" in a hospital context when patients and their relativ...

This project is part of a larger research effort focusing on incorporating the patient's existential needs in the communicative encounter through communication training programs for healthcare professionals across the healthcare system. The purpose of this research project is to develop a generic blended-learning training course on existential matt...

Background: Healthcare professionals in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) tend to focus attention on the mothers and the newborn infants. Thus, fathers may find it difficult to establish an optimal father-child relationship and their stress may increase and persist during hospitalization. Purpose: To investigate the impact of a more father-f...

Objective: Our objective was to describe the development and evaluation of a course programme in existential communication targeting general practitioners (GPs). Design: The UK Medical Research Council’s (MRC) framework for complex intervention research was used as a guide for course development and evaluation and was furthermore used to structure...

Objective: To explore the informational needs of mothers with different levels of education in order to improve counselling about vaccination. Methods: In the setting of a large vaccination trial, mothers' assessments and yield of written information in combination with telephone consultations were evaluated in a survey. Furthermore, searching s...

At Sygehus Lillebaelt, a Danish hospital, there has been a focus for several years on patient communication. This paper reflects on a course focusing on engaging with the patient's existential themes in particular the negotiations around the creation of video scenes. In the initial workshops, we have been drawing on improvised theatre. The fiction...

Background Vaccination is used worldwide to prevent infectious diseases. However, vaccination programmes in western countries face challenges in sustaining high coverage rates. The aim of this study was to explore how parents in Denmark make a decision about whether to allow their child to receive a Bacille Calmette Guerin vaccine at birth for the...

Objective: This paper aims to demonstrate how the use of participatory action research (PAR) helped us identify ways to respond to communication challenges associated with shared decision-making (SDM) training. Methods: Patients, relatives, researchers, and health professionals were involved in a PAR process that included: (1) two theatre worksh...

Although it is broadly recognized that health problems often involve existential and spiritual dimensions, recent research shows that these aspects of illness are rarely attended to by health professionals. Studies explain this in terms of barriers to communication, but health professionals' firsthand experiences and interpretations have so far bee...

Background: General practice recognizes the existential dimension as an integral part of multidimensional patient care alongside the physical, psychological and social dimensions. However, general practitioners (GPs) report substantial barriers related to communication with patients about existential concerns. Objectives: To describe the developmen...

Objective: The aim of this study was to further develop and test The Activity Barometer (TAB) as a tool for measuring patient participation in clinical consultations. Methods: The tool was further developed and tested by double coding 18 audio recordings from consultations between nurses and patients and by qualitative discussions between 3 raters....

Background: Most healthcare professionals in neonatal intensive care units typically focus on the infants and mothers; fathers often feel powerless and find it difficult to establish a father-child relationship. In family-centered healthcare settings, exploring fathers' experiences and needs is important because men's roles in society, especially a...

em>Background : In neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) health care professionals typically give most of their attention to the infants and the mothers while many fathers feel uncertain and have an unmet need for support and guidance. This paper describes and discusses participatory action research (PAR) as a method to improve NICUs’ service for f...

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify points of agreement and disagreements among general practitioners (GPs) in Denmark concerning how the existential dimension is understood, and when and how it is integrated in the GP-patient encounter. Design: A qualitative methodology with semi-structured focus group interviews was employed....

Background The outcome of communication training is widely measured by self-efficacy ratings, and different questionnaires have been used. Nevertheless, none of these questionnaires have been formally validated through systematic measurement of assessment properties. Consequently, we decided to further develop a self-efficacy questionnaire which ha...

This study aimed for competency development and capacity building based on a course with a total of 35 hours of lectures and a double coaching intervention that included one mutual coaching session on the last day of the course and one individual face to face coaching session with each of the leaders. The participants were clinical leaders (n=9) fr...

Background: Patients with back pain increasingly demand MRIs to be part of their assessment. However, in most back pain patients, MRI does not appear to have diagnostic value. Nevertheless, it has been shown that patients who receive an MRI are more satisfied with their treatment even though the imaging may not facilitate their return to well-being...

Objectives: To investigate the effects on patients' outcome of the consultations when provided with: a Digital Audio Recording (DAR) of the consultation and a Question Prompt List (QPL). Methods: This is a three-armed randomised controlled cluster trial. One group of patients received standard care, while the other two groups received either the...

Objective: To investigate a new technology of digital audio recording (DAR) of health consultations to provide knowledge about patients' use and evaluation of this recording method. Design: A cross-sectional feasibility analysis of the intervention using log data from the recording platform and data from a patient-administered questionnaire. Se...

Unlabelled: This study aimed to investigate women's perspectives and experiences with screening for osteoporosis. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted. Three main themes emerged: knowledge about osteoporosis, psychological aspects of screening, and moral duty. Generally, screening was accepted due to life experiences, self-perceiv...

This literature review presents results of research on communication skills training (CST) of medical staff and its effect on patients. The 27 studies identified by a search in PubMed and Cochrane databases showed considerable heterogeneity in interventions, methods and study length. Most studies found a positive effect on patient satisfaction afte...

Today's pediatric health care lacks methods to tap into the emotional state of hospitalized pediatric patients (age 4-6 years). The most frequently used approaches were developed for adults and fail to acknowledge the importance of imaginary experiences and the notion of play that may appeal to children. The scope of this article is to introduce a...

This Danish cross-sectional study (n=20,905) showed that women aged 65-81 years generally underestimated fracture risk compared to absolute risk estimated by the FRAX® algorithm. Significant association was found between risk factors (e.g., previous fracture, parental hip fracture, and self-rated heath) and self-perceived fracture risk. Although wo...

In this paper we focus on 'patient-democracy' and 'shared decision-making' seen from the perspective of design practice and design research. In the research on democracy in healthcare it is rarely questioned what forms of democracy underlies these concepts. We have examined three different theories of democracy and the democratic practices that bel...

In 2010 a communication program that included mandatory communication skills training for all employees with patient contact was developed and launched at a large regional hospital in Denmark. We describe the communication program, the implementation process, and the initial assessment of the process to date. Method The cornerstone of the program...

The aim of the study was to describe how often patients seek information about their disease in connection with contact to a hospital and to elucidate how information-seeking behaviour is related to the patients' perception of this contact. The study was based on patient surveys from the Danish county of Aarhus from 1999 to 2006 including eight pub...

This literature review presents results of research on communication skills training (CST) of medical staff and its effect on patients. The 27 studies identified by a search in PubMed and Cochrane databases showed considerable heterogeneity in interventions, methods and study length. Most studies found a positive effect on patient satisfaction afte...

In recent years, coaching, as a supplement to professional development, has received increased attention, especially in nursing. Still, only little is known about how health professionals experience participating in coaching sessions. The purpose of this pilot study was to describe and analyze health professionals' experiences from coaching-what co...

In recent years, coaching has received special attention as a method to improve healthy lifestyle behaviours. The fact that coaching has found its way into healthcare and may provide new ways of engaging the patients and making them accountable for their health, justifies the need for an overview of the evidence regarding coaching interventions use...

Traditional interventions aimed at improving patient self-management and at motivating the patients to change behaviour seem to be insufficient in adolescents with very high HbA1c. In this paper we present a case consisting of nine adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes type 1. They had previously shown continuously high levels of HbA1c for 2...

Introduction: Despite the increasing interest in patient-centered communication in health care, patient surveys continue to show that patients experience serious problems connected with poor communication. Research has provided evidence that health care professionals' communication skills and patient-centredness can be enhanced through training. Th...

Background: The accuracy of self-assessment has been questioned in studies comparing physicians' self-assessments to observed assessments; however, none of these studies used self-efficacy as a method for self-assessment. The aim of the study was to investigate how medical students' perceived self-efficacy of specific communication skills correspo...

Introduction: Good communication is commonly recognised to be a precondition for optimal health care and treatment. Nevertheless, serious communication problems are still experienced by patients as well as by health care professionals and therefore an orthopaedic surgery department initiated a three-day communication skills training course for all...

Interdisciplinary collaboration in end-of-life decision-making is challenging. Guidelines developed within the interdisciplinary team may help to clarify, describe, and obtain consensus on standards for end-of-life decision-making and care. The aim of the study was to develop, implement, and evaluate guidelines for withholding and withdrawing thera...

When making end-of-life decisions in intensive care units (ICUs), different staff groups have different roles in the decision-making process and may not always assess the situation in the same way. The aim of this study was to examine the challenges Danish nurses, intensivists, and primary physicians experience with end-of-life decisions in ICUs an...

Background Practices for withholding or withdrawing therapy vary according to professional, cultural and religious differences. No Danish-validated questionnaire examining withholding and withdrawing practices exists, thus the aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire for surveying the views of intensive care nurses, intensivist...

/st> To analyse the patients' inclination to comment in generic patient surveys, and to evaluate how these comments were received and used for quality improvement by the hospitals. /st> The study is based on quantitative and qualitative data from four rounds of patient satisfaction surveys from 1999 to 2006. The open-ended questions and their appli...

Good intercollegial communication is a relatively unstudied topic, although it is important for both health professionals and patients, contributing to enhanced well-being, self-awareness and integrity for health professionals, and positively affecting patient outcome and satisfaction. To investigate whether a communication skills training course w...

Rationale: Despite the fact that communication has become a core topic in health care, patients still experience the information provided as insufficient or incorrect and a lack of involvement. Objective: To investigate whether adult orthopaedic patients’ evaluation of the quality of care had improved after a communication skills training course fo...

Despite the knowledge of good communication as a precondition for optimal care and treatment in health care, serious communication problems are still experienced by patients as well as by health care professionals. An orthopedic surgery department initiated a 3-day communication skills training course for all staff members expecting an increase in...