Teaching Medical Students Skills for Effective Communication With Patients Who Have Communication Disorders

Abstract

Purpose Patients with communication impairments including speech, language, cognition, or hearing disorders face many barriers to communication in health care settings. These patients report loss of autonomy in health care decision making, are at increased risk for medical errors, and are less satisfied with health care than patients without communication disorders. Although medical students receive training in effective patient–provider communication, most of this training assumes patients have intact communication abilities. Medical students and other health care providers are often unprepared to meet the communication needs of patients with communication disorders in health care encounters. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a curriculum for training medical students to communicate effectively with patients who have a range of communication disorders. Method Twenty-six 2nd-year medical students volunteered for assessments before and after a required workshop in a class. This workshop included instruction about different types of communication disorders and communication strategies, followed by practice with standardized patients portraying different communication disorders. Outcome measures included a knowledge test, ratings of self-efficacy, and evaluation of students' skills when interviewing standardized patients portraying aphasia and dysarthria. Results Medical students demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge, self-efficacy, and use of recommended communication techniques. Conclusions The curriculum appeared effective in changing medical students' knowledge and skills for working with patients with communication disorders. Equipping medical students to meet the needs of patients with communication disorders is 1 key element for improving the quality of health care for this patient population.

The Psychological and Social Impact of Covid-19: New Perspectives of Well-Being

“…One of the future goals of public and private psychological organizations should be the promotion of specific training for psychologists and psychotherapists, with the following aims: (1) developing the basic skills in managing the effects of a pandemic and of emergency situations; and (2) sensitizing patients to online therapeutic relationship, providing the main rules and benefits of the process ( Stoll et al, 2020 ; Joint Task Force for the Development of Telepsychology Guidelines for Psychologists, 2013 ). On this line, a significant example is the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) which proposed PhDs in telepsychology, with the aim of training future psychologists in managing the psychological effects of the pandemic through an online psychology service ( Baylor et al, 2019 ). The service provided by the VCU had been effective in reducing anxiety, depression ( Sadock et al, 2017 ), and hospital recoveries ( Lanoye et al, 2017 ).…”

Education Program for Students in Multiple Health-care Fields to Support Communication with Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…The pre-/post-test results constituted one of the outcomes used for evaluating the education trial. We were unable to find similar tools for evaluating student achievement that were relevant to our study-except for ones related to other types of communication difficulty [8,9]. Thus, for our purposes, we aimed to construct a pre-/posttest.…”

“…If young people with a fresh approach to communication skills and knowledge enter a clinical field, they could influence and enlighten their junior colleagues and seniors. We were unable to find any reports about the effects of educational sessions on students with respect to AAC for severely disabled patients-except in dealing with aphasia or dysarthria [8,9]. We planned to offer a half-day course on communication support for ALS patients.…”

“…With AAC using IT or a similar method, It is necessary to avoid an excessive burden for the patient s family or their supporters. 8 IT T In addition to AAC methods using an IT device, there are several communication board methods employing letters and kuchimoji, an oral shape and eye-blink method without a board.…”

Assessing Medical Students’ Knowledge of the Deaf Culture and Community in Puerto Rico: A Descriptive Study.

“…San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJBSM) is one of four LCME accredited medical schools in Puerto Rico with a majority Hispanic population. Education of Deaf culture within medical school curricula has been found in the literature [21,23,[25][26][27][28][29]; however, none have been speci cally reported in Puerto Rico. With an estimated 150,000 to over 200,000 hearing-impaired individuals on the island [3,30,31], knowledge of D&HH patients and their health care access for this community is important for future health professionals and poses a need for an investigation.…”