Enhancing provider-patient connection through low-effort interventions: a scoping review protocol

Introduction: Nudges, or low-effort interventions aimed at influencing behaviour, can improve provider medical decision-making through promoting adherence to practice guidelines. Strengthening provider-patient humanistic connection through nudges may increase provider satisfaction, mitigate burnout and improve patient satisfaction and outcomes. This scoping review aims to map the literature investigating provider-directed, low-effort interventions aimed at enhancing the provider-patient connection.

Methods and analysis: The authors conducted a preliminary search to identify terms that will be used in the final search strategy. The search follows Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and will be used to query Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases. Two authors will work independently to screen abstracts and full text. We will summarise the findings using descriptive statistics and narrative synthesis and will use SEIPS 2.0 as the anchoring framework.

Ethics and dissemination: As a secondary analysis of published data, this study does not require ethics approval. The results will be submitted to relevant academic peer-reviewed journals and conferences. We anticipate that the interventions surveyed in this scoping review will have the potential to be incorporated into clinical practice at an individual and systemic level with the goal of enhancing providers' sense of meaning connected to their work, mitigating burnout and improving the patient experience.