Teaching communication skills: beyond wishful thinking

Abstract

Communication skills tend to decline with time unless they are regularly recalled and practiced. However, most medical schools still deliver clinical communication training only during pre-clinical years although the clinical environment is considered to be ideal for acquiring and teaching clinical communication. The aim of this article is to review the barriers that prevent communication skills teaching and training from occurring in clinical practice and describe strategies that may help enhance such activities. Barriers occur at several levels: students, junior doctors and clinical supervisors sometimes have negative attitudes towards communication training; structured training in communication skills is often insufficient; clinical supervisors behave as poor role models and lack effective communication and teaching skills; finally, there are organisational constraints such as lack of time, competing priorities, weak hierarchy support and lack of positive incentives for using, training or teaching good communication skills in clinical practice. Given the difficulty of assessing transfer of communication skills in practice, only few studies describe successful educational interventions. In order to optimise communication skills learning in practice, there is need to: (1.) modify the climate and structure of the working environment so that that use, training and teaching of good communication skills in clinical practice becomes valued, supported and rewarded; (2.) extend communication skills training to any field of medicine; (3.) provide regular structured trainings and tailor them to trainees' needs. Practical implications of such findings are discussed at the end of this review.

Patients′ attitudes towards the participation of medical students in clinical examination and care in Western Saudi Arabia

“…However, in the absence of actual patient contact and the lack of faculty role models for effective communication, decline over time is expected. [242526] Teaching hospitals should work on improving patients’ attitude towards the nature of medical education and the significance of involving medical students in real patient care. [16]…”

Assessment of residency program outcomes via alumni surveys

“…As medical school curricula evolve, residency programs have to make sure that they continue with emerging trends. For example, in recent years medical students at the University of Bern are trained in communication skills19 and exposed to primary care in longitudinal clerkships in order to raise interest in primary care specialties such as pediatrics in early stages of their careers 18. Since these programs started in late 2007, this study did not have alumni in the cohort who completed this training.…”

“…Since these programs started in late 2007, this study did not have alumni in the cohort who completed this training. Future residents will be equipped with different subsets of skills when entering a residency program 18,19. Residency programs will have to take into account these skills and optimize them with up-to-date training.…”

Communication skills training: Adapting to the trends and moving forward

“…It may show up as an isolated course separated from other courses, standing alone and self-sufficient. It may be provided only in the early stage of the educational plan and disappeared thoroughly subsequently, since it was believed that the students could get the best training automatically when they enter into the clinical setting with a real environment and patients (15). However, more and more medical educators realize that what we have done as mentioned above are not enough to meet the demands of fostering qualified doctors.…”