Study: Clear Masks Improve Communication with Patients

Providers who wore the ClearMask were perceived as having more empathy and elicit greater trust from patients.

Seeing really is believing. 

New research shows that doctors who wear transparent face masks greatly improve communication with patients compared to doctors whose faces are blocked by a standard face masks.

What’s more, providers who wore the ClearMask are also perceived as having more empathy and elicit greater trust from patients, according to a study in JAMA Surgery.

Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial of 200 patients, in which surgeons wore either a ClearMask transparent mask or a standard mask during a new patient visit. After the visit, the patients took a survey to evaluate the mask itself and the surgeon's communication, empathy, and trust, while answering validated questions from the Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS). 

Compared to standard masks, patients reported improved communication with the ClearMask, rating their physician significantly higher in providing understandable explanations, demonstrating empathy, and building trust. All of the patients whose provider wore the ClearMask preferred the transparent masks, citing improved provider communication and appreciation for full face visibility.

"The study's overwhelmingly positive results on improved communication with the ClearMask validated what we knew all along: being able to see each other's faces is fundamentally human and an integral part of how we connect," says Allysa Dittmar, President of ClearMask, LLC, in a news release. "The study's use of the ClearMask brand and its acceptance into a rigorous journal like the Journal of American Medical Association is a powerful testament to the importance of the ClearMask." 

"Trust is the cornerstone of surgical care. Without it, patients would not let us operate on them or trust our judgment to forgo surgery. And how we speak may be more important than what we say," wrote Drs. Margaret Schwarze and Elle Kalbfell of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in an invited commentary to the study. "As surgeons, we do many bold things because they improve patient care, and wearing a clear mask with new patients should be one of them."