Teaching Medical Educators How to Teach Communication Skills: More than a Decade of Experience

Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Primer for Primary Care Health Professionals

“… 31 Participants with less baseline knowledge and comfort regarding sexual health and communication could consider reviewing available resources on this topic, such as the provider's guide from the National Coalition for Sexual Health. 32 Though language drills have been demonstrated to improve participant comfort with sensitive language, 28 , 33 we have no direct evidence that this occurred in our sessions. We also recognize that providing a safe space for learners to practice new language and skills is essential to higher-level learning and change in practice.…”

“…The last section of the workshop provided a brief overview of screening for the safe use of sexual devices. We divided participants into pairs and asked dyads to utilize language drills 28 to practice sensitive language for screening/counseling regarding sexual devices ( Appendix D ). The language drills included two different scripts of a patient and physician discussing sexual devices.…”

Adapting Existing Resources for Serious Illness Communication Skills Training for Internal Medicine Residents

“…We convened a committee consisting of two IM residents and five Medicine faculty with either formal training in communication skills education or subspecialties in which serious illness often presents (Palliative Care and Geriatrics) to develop a curriculum for our learners specific to their training environment. 22,23 We conducted an informal needs assessment by engaging our resident-led committee to identify common challenges in goals of care communication skills and scenarios that would be high-yield training topics. We conducted a literature search to identify existing resident curricula on breaking bad news, goals of care communication, and end-of-life discussions to incorporate previously validated approaches where possible.…”

“…One of the six facilitators had previous training in communication skills curriculum development and education. 22,23 After each small-group session, we conducted a 15-minute facilitator debriefing to understand the successes and barriers in leading small-group teaching sessions. We used these data to iteratively refine subsequent teaching sessions, such as offering residents an opportunity for role-play.…”

Expanding Goals of Care Conversations Across a Health System: The Mapping the Future Program

“…We used a structured method of teaching communication with simulated patients based on best educational practices, requiring communication teachers to master a progressive sequence of steps. 19 As teachers begin to practice with actual learners, they must be able to apply the steps to help learners identify what they did well, what they can do to improve, and how their specific behavior influenced the interaction. The process of becoming a skilled independent communication teacher using this method takes at least a year.…”