Showing papers by "Richard M. Frankel published in 1999"

An empirical examination of conference calls as a voluntary disclosure medium

Abstract: Corporate conference calls are large-scale telephone conference calls during which managers make presentations to and answer questions from various market participants, usually about earnings. In this paper, we sample 1,056 corporate conference calls made by 808 firms during February-November 1995 to provide evidence on three questions: (1) whether conference calls provide information to stock market participants, (2) whether investors have equal access to the information provided during these calls, and (3) why managers of some firms hold conference calls while managers of other firms do not. We believe this research is important because managers' use of conference calls has grown enormously, yet we know little about how these calls affect investors.1

Getting the Most out of the Clinical Encounter: The Four Habits Model

Abstract: Medical interviewing is the foundation of medical care and is the clinician's most important activity. A growing body of evidence suggests that clinicians use distinctive, describable behaviors to conduct medical interviews. This article describes four patterns of behavior that we term Habits and reviews the research evidence that links each Habit with both biomedical and functional outcomes of care. The Four Habits are: Invest in the Beginning, Elicit the Patient's Perspective, Demonstrate Empathy, and Invest in the End. Each Habit refers to a family of skills. In addition, the Habits bear a sequential relationship to one another and are thus interdependent. The Four Habits approach offers an efficient and practical framework for organizing the flow of medical visits. It is unique because it concentrates on families of interviewing skills and on their inter-relationships.

Teaching self-awareness enhances learning about patient-centered interviewing.

Abstract: Purpose To evaluate the effect of intensive attitudinal training on residents' learning the patient-centered interviewing skills required to establish a healthy provider-patient relationship and to communicate effectively. Method While teaching 53 residents patient-centered interviewing skills, the authors also trained them to recognize previously unrecognized, negative attitudes that interfered with learning the skills. The authors, using an iterative, consensus-building process based on the residents' performances and personality data, identified a spectrum of responses to the educational intervention. Barriers to and facilitators of mastery of skills were analyzed and this information was used to help residents overcome skill deficits. Results To varying degrees, 44 residents became aware of previously unrecognized attitudes to the extent that they improved their patient-centered interviewing skills. Six residents failed to develop awareness of negative attitudes and showed little learning and clinical use of the interviewing skills being taught. Three residents who rapidly developed superb interviewing skills showed no negative attitude towards using them. Conclusions Pending a confirmatory hypothesis-testing study, the authors believe that, as residents learn how to conduct patient-centered interviews, training in awareness of interfering attitudes should accompany training in skills.