Assessment of communication skills in health professions education; Ottawa 2024 consensus statement.

Despite the increasing inclusion of communication skills in accreditation standards and an increase in time dedicated to teaching these skills, communication is often regarded as a separate skill and is therefore, not consistently represented in overall systems of assessment in Health Professions Education (HPE). The ascendence of competency-based medical education, programmatic assessment, artificial intelligence, and widespread use of telehealth, alongside changing patient expectations warrant an update in thinking about the assessment of communication skills in health professions education. This consensus statement draws on existing literature, expert pinion, and emerging challenges to situate the assessment of communication skills in the contemporary health professions education context. The statement builds on previous work to offer an update on the topic and include new developments related to assessment, particularly: the challenges and opportunities associated with systems of assessment; patient and peer perspectives in assessment; assessment of interprofessional communication, cross-cultural communication, digital communication; and assessment using digital technologies. Consensus was reached through extensive discussion among the authors and other experts in HPE, exploration of the literature, and discussion during an Ottawa 2024 conference workshop. The statement puts forward a summary of available evidence with suggestions for what educators and curriculum developers should consider in their planning and design of the assessment of communication.

Do the teaching, practice and assessment of clinical communication skills align?

BACKGROUND: Evidence indicates that communication skills teaching learnt in the classroom are not often readily transferable to the assessment methods that are applied nor to the clinical environment. An observational study was conducted to objectively evaluate students' communication skills in different learning environments. The study sought to investigate the extent to which the communication skills demonstrated by students in classroom, clinical, and assessment settings align. METHOD: A mixed methods study was conducted to observe and evaluate students during the fourth year of a five-year medical program. Participants were videorecorded during structured classroom 'interactional skills' sessions, as well as clinical encounters with real patients and an OSCE station calling upon communication skills. The Calgary Cambridge Observational Guides was used to evaluate students at different settings. RESULT: This study observed 28 students and findings revealed that while in the classroom students were able to practise a broad range of communication skills, in contrast in the clinical environment, information-gathering and relationship-building with patients became the focus of their encounters with patients. In the OSCEs, limited time and high-pressure scenarios caused the students to rush to complete the task which focussed solely on information-gathering and/or explanation, diminishing opportunity for rapport-building with the patient. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate a poor alignment that can develop between the skills practiced across learning environments. Further research is needed to investigate the development and application of students' skills over the long term to understand supports for and barriers to effective teaching and learning of communication skills in different learning environments.

"We're All Time Poor": Experienced Clinicians' and Students' Perceptions of Challenges Related to Patient Communication.

PHENOMENON: Communication is a complex and essential element of clinical practice. It is widely accepted that communication skills can be taught and learned, but challenges remain for clinicians in achieving effective communication with patients. This study explored the patient-communication challenges faced by both medical students and experienced clinicians. APPROACH: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty medical students and nineteen experienced clinicians from a range of medical disciplines. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and transcriptions subjected to thematic analysis and coding to quantify the challenges discussed. FINDINGS: There was remarkable consistency in the challenges described by both groups of participants, with eight predominant challenges identified: time constraints and chaotic environments, rapport building, patient characteristics, reluctance, omissions, assumptions, decision-making, and keeping conversations focused. INSIGHTS: Medical curricula often focus on communication challenges associated with complex or sensitive clinical situations, but many of the challenges identified occur in routine consultations. Both pre-service and post-graduate medical training should adopt strategies to help build students' and clinicians' skills in managing these challenges from the outset of training.

Interventions for improving medical students' interpersonal communication in medical consultations.

BACKGROUND: Communication is a common element in all medical consultations, affecting a range of outcomes for doctors and patients. The increasing demand for medical students to be trained to communicate effectively has seen the emergence of interpersonal communication skills as core graduate competencies in medical training around the world. Medical schools have adopted a range of approaches to develop and evaluate these competencies. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of interventions for medical students that aim to improve interpersonal communication in medical consultations. SEARCH METHODS: We searched five electronic databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and ERIC (Educational Resource Information Centre) in September 2020, with no language, date, or publication status restrictions. We also screened reference lists of relevant articles and contacted authors of included studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster-RCTs (C-RCTs), and non-randomised controlled trials (quasi-RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of interventions delivered to students in undergraduate or graduate-entry medical programmes. We included studies of interventions aiming to improve medical students' interpersonal communication during medical consultations. Included interventions targeted communication skills associated with empathy, relationship building, gathering information, and explanation and planning, as well as specific communication tasks such as listening, appropriate structure, and question style. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Two review authors independently reviewed all search results, extracted data, assessed the risk of bias of included studies, and rated the quality of evidence using GRADE. MAIN RESULTS: We found 91 publications relating to 76 separate studies (involving 10,124 students): 55 RCTs, 9 quasi-RCTs, 7 C-RCTs, and 5 quasi-C-RCTs. We performed meta-analysis according to comparison and outcome. Among both effectiveness and comparative effectiveness analyses, we separated outcomes reporting on overall communication skills, empathy, rapport or relationship building, patient perceptions/satisfaction, information gathering, and explanation and planning. Overall communication skills and empathy were further divided as examiner- or simulated patient-assessed. The overall quality of evidence ranged from moderate to very low, and there was high, unexplained heterogeneity. Overall, interventions had positive effects on most outcomes, but generally small effect sizes and evidence quality limit the conclusions that can be drawn. Communication skills interventions in comparison to usual curricula or control may improve both overall communication skills (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53 to 1.31; 18 studies, 1356 participants; I² = 90%; low-quality evidence) and empathy (SMD 0.64, 95% CI 0.23 to 1.05; 6 studies, 831 participants; I² = 86%; low-quality evidence) when assessed by experts, but not by simulated patients. Students' skills in information gathering probably also improve with educational intervention (SMD 1.07, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.54; 5 studies, 405 participants; I² = 78%; moderate-quality evidence), but there may be little to no effect on students' rapport (SMD 0.18, 95% CI -0.15 to 0.51; 9 studies, 834 participants; I² = 81%; low-quality evidence), and effects on information giving skills are uncertain (very low-quality evidence). We are uncertain whether experiential interventions improve overall communication skills in comparison to didactic approaches (SMD 0.08, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.19; 4 studies, 1578 participants; I² = 4%; very low-quality evidence). Electronic learning approaches may have little to no effect on students' empathy scores (SMD -0.13, 95% CI -0.68 to 0.43; 3 studies, 421 participants; I² = 82%; low-quality evidence) or on rapport (SMD 0.02, 95% CI -0.33 to 0.38; 3 studies, 176 participants; I² = 19%; moderate-quality evidence) compared to face-to-face approaches. There may be small negative effects of electronic interventions on information giving skills (low-quality evidence), and effects on information gathering skills are uncertain (very low-quality evidence).  Personalised/specific feedback probably improves overall communication skills to a small degree in comparison to generic or no feedback (SMD 0.58, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.87; 6 studies, 502 participants; I² = 56%; moderate-quality evidence). There may be small positive effects of personalised feedback on empathy and information gathering skills (low quality), but effects on rapport are uncertain (very low quality), and we found no evidence on information giving skills. We are uncertain whether role-play with simulated patients outperforms peer role-play in improving students' overall communication skills (SMD 0.17, 95% CI -0.33 to 0.67; 4 studies, 637 participants; I² = 87%; very low-quality evidence). There may be little to no difference between effects of simulated patient and peer role-play on students' empathy (low-quality evidence) with no evidence on other outcomes for this comparison. Descriptive syntheses of results that could not be included in meta-analyses across outcomes and comparisons were mixed, as were effects of different interventions and comparisons on specific communication skills assessed by the included trials. Quality of evidence was downgraded due to methodological limitations across several risk of bias domains, high unexplained heterogeneity, and imprecision of results. In general, results remain consistent in sensitivity analysis based on risk of bias and adjustment for clustering. No adverse effects were reported.  AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: This review represents a substantial body of evidence from which to draw, but further research is needed to strengthen the quality of the evidence base, to consider the long-term effects of interventions on students' behaviour as they progress through training and into practice, and to assess effects of interventions on patient outcomes. Efforts to standardise assessment and evaluation of interpersonal skills will strengthen future research efforts.

Parents' concerns about Leavers celebrations: A cross-sectional study.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: "Schoolies' or "Leavers' is a mass celebration of the end of compulsory schooling where excessive drinking is considered integral to the experience. Leavers are at risk of alcohol-related harms. This paper reports the concerns of parents for their Year 12 students (age 17 years) when attending Leavers celebrations. METHODS: Parents of Year 12 students (n = 87) were asked to complete a survey in relation to their eldest school-aged child. Six items relating to parents' level of "concern' about Leavers celebrations were measured on a 5-point scale. RESULTS: Parents were concerned about their child experiencing peer pressure to consume alcohol (60%), 30% were neutral or unconcerned about peer pressure. Almost two thirds of parents were concerned about their child being injured as a result of their own alcohol use (66.7%). Parental concern relating to their child being injured because of others' alcohol use rated most highly (88.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggested that parents were more concerned with harm caused to their child by others than the use of alcohol by their own child. Parents were somewhat less concerned with peer pressure to drink, though given peer influence is a major factor in young people's decisions regarding alcohol, parents' apparent confidence in their children's capacity to resist peer pressure may be inflated. SO WHAT?: Future interventions reinforcing the important role that parents play in the decisions that young people make while at Leavers have the potential to reduce their alcohol intake and subsequent alcohol-related harm.

Assessing the training needs of medical students in patient information gathering.

BACKGROUND: Effective communication is at the heart of good medical practice but rates of error, patient complaints, and poor clinician job satisfaction are suggestive of room for improvement in this component of medical practice and education. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with experienced clinicians (n = 19) and medical students (n = 20) to explore their experiences associated with teaching and learning clinical communication skills and identify targets for improvements to addressing these skills in medical curricula. RESULTS: Interviews were thematically analysed and four key themes emerged; the importance of experience, the value of role-models, the structure of a consultation, and confidence. CONCLUSIONS: The findings reinforce the need for improvement in teaching and learning communication skills in medicine, with particular opportunity to target approaches to teaching foundational skills which can establish a strong grounding before moving into more complex situations, thus preparing students for the flexibility required in medical interviewing. A second area of opportunity and need is in the engagement and training of clinicians as mentors and teachers, with the findings from both groups indicating that preparation for teaching and feedback is lacking. Medical programs can improve their teaching of communication skills and could learn from other fields s to identify applicable innovative approaches.

Medical identity; perspectives of students from two countries.

BACKGROUND: The development of professional identity is a fundamental element of medical education. There is evidence that in Germany, students' perceptions of the ideal and real doctor differ, and that of themselves as physicians falls between these constructs. We sought to compare students' perceptions of themselves, the ideal doctor, and the 'real' doctor and investigate differences from first to final year in the relationships between these constructs, as well as differences between Australian and German cohorts. METHOD: Students in the first and final years of their medical program at one Australian and one German university were invited to complete the Osgood and Hofstatter polarity profile, involving the description of their mental image of the ideal and real doctor, and the doctor they hope to become, with adjectives provided. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-seven students completed the survey in Australia (121 year 1, 46 year 5) and 188 in Germany (164 year 1, 24 year 6). The perception of the ideal doctor was consistent across all respondents, but that of the real doctor and self-image differed between country and year. Differences existed between country cohorts in perceptions of 'confidence', 'strength', 'capability' and 'security'. CONCLUSIONS: The pattern previously reported among German students was maintained, but a different pattern emerged among Australian students. Differences between countries could reflect cultural differences or variations in the overt and hidden curricula of medical schools. Some of the constructs within the profiles are amenable to educational interventions to improve students' confidence and sense of capability.

Family-based prevention programmes for alcohol use in young people.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use in young people is a risk factor for a range of short- and long-term harms and is a cause of concern for health services, policy-makers, youth workers, teachers, and parents. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of universal, selective, and indicated family-based prevention programmes in preventing alcohol use or problem drinking in school-aged children (up to 18 years of age).Specifically, on these outcomes, the review aimed:• to assess the effectiveness of universal family-based prevention programmes for all children up to 18 years ('universal interventions');• to assess the effectiveness of selective family-based prevention programmes for children up to 18 years at elevated risk of alcohol use or problem drinking ('selective interventions'); and• to assess the effectiveness of indicated family-based prevention programmes for children up to 18 years who are currently consuming alcohol, or who have initiated use or regular use ('indicated interventions'). SEARCH METHODS: We identified relevant evidence from the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (Ovid 1966 to June 2018), Embase (1988 to June 2018), Education Resource Information Center (ERIC; EBSCOhost; 1966 to June 2018), PsycINFO (Ovid 1806 to June 2018), and Google Scholar. We also searched clinical trial registers and handsearched references of topic-related systematic reviews and the included studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster RCTs (C-RCTs) involving the parents of school-aged children who were part of the general population with no known risk factors (universal interventions), were at elevated risk of alcohol use or problem drinking (selective interventions), or were already consuming alcohol (indicated interventions). Psychosocial or educational interventions involving parents with or without involvement of children were compared with no intervention, or with alternate (e.g. child only) interventions, allowing experimental isolation of parent components. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. MAIN RESULTS: We included 46 studies (39,822 participants), with 27 classified as universal, 12 as selective, and seven as indicated. We performed meta-analyses according to outcome, including studies reporting on the prevalence, frequency, or volume of alcohol use. The overall quality of evidence was low or very low, and there was high, unexplained heterogeneity.Upon comparing any family intervention to no intervention/standard care, we found no intervention effect on the prevalence (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.08 to 0.08; studies = 12; participants = 7490; I² = 57%; low-quality evidence) or frequency (SMD -0.31, 95% CI -0.83 to 0.21; studies = 8; participants = 1835; I² = 96%; very low-quality evidence) of alcohol use in comparison with no intervention/standard care. The effect of any parent/family interventions on alcohol consumption volume compared with no intervention/standard care was very small (SMD -0.14, 95% CI -0.27 to 0.00; studies = 5; participants = 1825; I² = 42%; low-quality evidence).When comparing parent/family and adolescent interventions versus interventions with young people alone, we found no difference in alcohol use prevalence (SMD -0.39, 95% CI -0.91 to 0.14; studies = 4; participants = 5640; I² = 99%; very low-quality evidence) or frequency (SMD -0.16, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.09; studies = 4; participants = 915; I² = 73%; very low-quality evidence). For this comparison, no trials reporting on the volume of alcohol use could be pooled in meta-analysis.In general, the results remained consistent in separate subgroup analyses of universal, selective, and indicated interventions. No adverse effects were reported. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The results of this review indicate that there are no clear benefits of family-based programmes for alcohol use among young people. Patterns differ slightly across outcomes, but overall, the variation, heterogeneity, and number of analyses performed preclude any conclusions about intervention effects. Additional independent studies are required to strengthen the evidence and clarify the marginal effects observed.

Real-time video counselling for smoking cessation.

BACKGROUND: Real-time video communication software such as Skype and FaceTime transmits live video and audio over the Internet, allowing counsellors to provide support to help people quit smoking. There are more than four billion Internet users worldwide, and Internet users can download free video communication software, rendering a video counselling approach both feasible and scalable for helping people to quit smoking. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of real-time video counselling delivered individually or to a group in increasing smoking cessation, quit attempts, intervention adherence, satisfaction and therapeutic alliance, and to provide an economic evaluation regarding real-time video counselling. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialised Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO and Embase to identify eligible studies on 13 August 2019. We searched the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov to identify ongoing trials registered by 13 August 2019. We checked the reference lists of included articles and contacted smoking cessation researchers for any additional studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), randomised trials, cluster RCTs or cluster randomised trials of real-time video counselling for current tobacco smokers from any setting that measured smoking cessation at least six months following baseline. The real-time video counselling intervention could be compared with a no intervention control group or another smoking cessation intervention, or both. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently extracted data from included trials, assessed the risk of bias and rated the certainty of the evidence using the GRADE approach. We performed a random-effects meta-analysis for the primary outcome of smoking cessation, using the most stringent measure of smoking cessation measured at the longest follow-up. Analysis was based on the intention-to-treat principle. We considered participants with missing data at follow-up for the primary outcome of smoking cessation to be smokers. MAIN RESULTS: We included two randomised trials with 615 participants. Both studies delivered real-time video counselling for smoking cessation individually, compared with telephone counselling. We judged one study at unclear risk of bias and one study at high risk of bias. There was no statistically significant treatment effect for smoking cessation (using the strictest definition and longest follow-up) across the two included studies when real-time video counselling was compared to telephone counselling (risk ratio (RR) 2.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.38 to 12.04; 2 studies, 608 participants; I2 = 66%). We judged the overall certainty of the evidence for smoking cessation as very low due to methodological limitations, imprecision in the effect estimate reflected by the wide 95% CIs and inconsistency of cessation rates. There were no significant differences between real-time video counselling and telephone counselling reported for number of quit attempts among people who continued to smoke (mean difference (MD) 0.50, 95% CI -0.60 to 1.60; 1 study, 499 participants), mean number of counselling sessions completed (MD -0.20, 95% CI -0.45 to 0.05; 1 study, 566 participants), completion of all sessions (RR 1.13, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.79; 1 study, 43 participants) or therapeutic alliance (MD 1.13, 95% CI -0.24 to 2.50; 1 study, 398 participants). Participants in the video counselling arm were more likely than their telephone counselling counterparts to recommend the programme to a friend or family member (RR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.11; 1 study, 398 participants); however, there were no between-group differences on satisfaction score (MD 0.70, 95% CI -1.16 to 2.56; 1 study, 29 participants). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is very little evidence about the effectiveness of real-time video counselling for smoking cessation. The existing research does not suggest a difference between video counselling and telephone counselling for assisting people to quit smoking. However, given the very low GRADE rating due to methodological limitations in the design, imprecision of the effect estimate and inconsistency of cessation rates, the smoking cessation results should be interpreted cautiously. High-quality randomised trials comparing real-time video counselling to telephone counselling are needed to increase the confidence of the effect estimate. Furthermore, there is currently no evidence comparing real-time video counselling to a control group. Such research is needed to determine whether video counselling increases smoking cessation.

Inaccuracies in survey reporting of alcohol consumption.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption estimates in public health predominantly rely on self-reported survey data which is likely to underestimate consumption volume. Surveys tend to ask specifically about standard drinks and provide a definition or guide in an effort to gather accurate estimates. This study aimed to investigate whether the inclusion of the term standard drinks with pictorial guide is associated with an adjustment in self-reported alcohol volume. METHODS: A web-based survey was administered with AUDIT-C questions repeated at the beginning and end of the survey with and without the standard drink term and guide. The order in which respondents were presented with the different question types was randomised. Two cohorts of university/college students in NSW Australia (n = 122) and the US Pacific Northwest (n = 285) completed the survey online. RESULTS: Australian students did not adjust their responses to questions with and without the standard drink term and pictorial guide. The US students were more likely to adjust their responses based on the detail of the question asked. Those US students who drank more frequently and in greater volume were less likely to adjust/apply a conversion to their consumption. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports previous findings of the inaccuracy of alcohol consumption volume in surveys, but also demonstrates that an assumption of underestimation cannot be applied to all individual reports of consumption. Using additional questions to better understand drink types and serving sizes is a potential approach to enable accurate calculation of underestimation in survey data.

Face yourself! - learning progress and shame in different approaches of video feedback: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND: Feedback is a crucial part of medical education and with on-going digitalisation, video feedback has been increasingly in use. Potentially shameful physician-patient-interactions might particularly benefit from it, allowing a meta-perspective view of ones own performance from a distance. We thus wanted to explore different approaches on how to deliver specifically video feedback by investigating the following hypotheses: 1. Is the physical presence of a person delivering the feedback more desired, and associated with improved learning outcomes compared to using a checklist? 2. Are different approaches of video feedback associated with different levels of shame in students with a simple checklist likely to be perceived as least and receiving feedback in front of a group of fellow students being perceived as most embarrassing? METHODS: Second-year medical students had to manage a consultation with a simulated patient. Students received structured video feedback according to one randomly assigned approach: checklist (CL), group (G), student tutor (ST), or teacher (T). Shame (ESS, TOSCA, subjective rating) and effectiveness (subjective ratings, remembered feedback points) were measured. T-tests for dependent samples and ANOVAs were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: n = 64 students could be included. Video feedback was in hindsight rated significantly less shameful than before. Subjectively, there was no significant difference between the four approaches regarding effectiveness or the potential to arise shame. Objective learning success showed CL to be significantly less effective than the other approaches; additionally, T showed a trend towards being more effective than G or ST. CONCLUSIONS: There was no superior approach as such. But CL could be shown to be less effective than G, ST and T. Feelings of shame were higher before watching one's video feedback than in hindsight. There was no significant difference regarding the different approaches. It does not seem to make any differences as to who is delivering the video feedback as long as it is a real person. This opens possibilities to adapt curricula to local standards, preferences, and resource limitations. Further studies should investigate, whether the present results can be reproduced when also assessing external evaluation and long-term effects.

Child-parent agreement on alcohol-related parenting: Opportunities for prevention of alcohol-related harm.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Excessive alcohol consumption places adolescents at increased risk of preventable, acute alcohol-related injury. Parental attitudes and behaviours influence adolescents' alcohol use. This study examined alignment in parent and child reports of alcohol-related parenting and whether misalignment related to the child ever having drunk alcohol. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in five secondary schools in [information removed for blinding in Perth, Western Australia] in 2015. All students in Years 7, 10 and 12 and their parents were eligible, and data were matched for 124 child-parent dyads. Alignment of parent-child reports was assessed using kappa statistics. In dyads where the parent reported protective attitudes and behaviours, the association between misalignment and alcohol use was tested in logistic regressions. RESULTS: Overall, child-parent reports were aligned on parents' expectations, knowledge and actions (65% and higher agreed). While alignment on parental expectations seemed to decrease with age, alignment on parental communication and rule-setting increased. Misalignment on reports of parents' expectations was associated with increased odds of the child reporting having ever had alcohol (OR = 5.5; 95% CI = 2.7-47.7), as was parental supply (OR = 20.2; 95% CI = 3.3-121.5), but misalignment on parental communication, rule-setting and knowledge were not. CONCLUSIONS: Parent nonsupply of alcohol and disapproval of use were most important in terms of associations with ever drinking. SO WHAT?: These findings call for interventions that support parents to expect no alcohol use and enable parents to communicate their expectation in a manner that resonates with their child. Effective parenting will contribute to reducing alcohol-related harm in adolescents.

Analysis of the Empathic Concern Subscale of the Emotional Response Questionnaire in a Study Evaluating the Impact of a 3D Cultural Simulation.

Abstract Background Empathic concern has been found to decline in health professional students. Few effective educational programs and a lack of validated scales are reported. Previous analysis of the Empathic Concern scale of the Emotional Response Questionnaire has reported both one and two latent constructs. Aim To evaluate the impact of simulation on nursing students' empathic concern and test the psychometric properties of the Empathic Concern scale. Methods The study used a one group pre-test post-test design with a convenience sample of 460 nursing students. Empathic concern was measured pre-post simulation with the Empathic Concern scale. Factor Analysis was undertaken to investigate the structure of the scale. Results There was a statistically significant increase in Empathic Concern scores between pre-simulation 5.57 (SD = 1.04) and post-simulation 6.10 (SD = 0.95). Factor analysis of the Empathic Concern scale identified one latent dimension. Conclusion Immersive simulation may promote empathic concern. The Empathic Concern scale measured a single latent construct in this cohort.

Acceptability of alcohol supply to children - associations with adults' own age of initiation and social norms.

Issue addressed The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of adults' perceived acceptability of introducing alcohol to children less than 18 years of age. Methods An online survey. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between demographic characteristics, alcohol consumption, and social norms and adults' own age of initiation. Results Alcohol consumption, age of initiation and perception of the acceptability of drunkenness were all correlated with the acceptability of introducing children to alcohol. The strongest predictor was adults' own age of initiation. Conclusions Adults who began drinking before the age of 18, and those who drink more heavily, are more likely to perceive the provision of alcohol to children as acceptable. So what? Policy and research should continue to focus on and monitor efforts to delay adolescent alcohol initiation and reduce consumption levels among adults. A shift in awareness and perceptions about alcohol use among adults has the potential to influence initiation and heavy drinking among adolescents.

Interprofessional collaborative practice for medication safety: Nursing, pharmacy, and medical graduates' experiences and perspectives.

Medication errors are the second most prevalent cause of adverse patient incidents in Australian hospital settings. Although numerous strategies to address this patient safety issue have been implemented, the impact of interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) on medication safety has received limited attention. The aim of this article is to report the perspectives and experiences of recently graduated, currently practicing Australian nurses, pharmacists, and doctors in relation to IPCP and medication safety. Sixty-eight graduates from three Australian states participated in focus groups. Thematic analysis of transcripts was conducted using an iterative process. The findings from this study illustrate how knowing about and valuing the skills and responsibilities of other team members and respecting each person's unique contribution to the work of the team can lead to more effective communication and collaboration in the context of medication safety. Although collaborative practice is critical to safe medication prescribing, dispensing, and administration, there are recurring and pervasive challenges to its achievement. This study indicated the need for improved preparation of graduates to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to participate in an interprofessional team; and we advocate that deliberate, structured, and meaningful interprofessional clinical education initiatives are required.

Measuring the impact of a 3D simulation experience on nursing students' cultural empathy using a modified version of the Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of immersive 3D cultural simulation on nursing students' empathy towards culturally and linguistically diverse patients. BACKGROUND: Accelerated globalisation has seen a significant increase in cultural diversity in most regions of the world over the past forty years. Clinical encounters that do not acknowledge cultural factors contribute to adverse patient outcomes and health care inequities for culturally and linguistically diverse people. Cultural empathy is an antecedent to cultural competence. Thus, appropriate educational strategies are needed to enhance nursing students' cultural empathy and the capacity to deliver culturally competent care. DESIGN: A one-group pretest, post-test design was used for this study. The simulation exposed students to an unfolding scene in a hospital ward of a developing county. METHODS: A convenience sample of second-year undergraduate nursing students (n = 460) from a semi-metropolitan university in Australia were recruited for the study. Characteristics of the sample were summarised using descriptive statistics. T-tests were performed to analyse the differences between pre- and post simulation empathy scores using an eight item modified version of the Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale. RESULTS: Students' empathy towards culturally and linguistically diverse patients significantly improved after exposure to the 3D simulation experience. The mean scores for the Perspective Taking and Valuing Affective Empathy subscales also increased significantly postsimulation. CONCLUSIONS: The immersive 3D simulation had a positive impact on nursing students' empathy levels in regards to culturally and linguistically diverse groups. Research with other cohorts and in other contexts is required to further explore the impact of this educational approach. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Immersive cultural simulation experiences offer opportunities to enhance the cultural empathy of nursing students. This may in turn have a positive impact on their cultural competence and consequently the quality of care they provide to culturally and linguistically diverse patients.

Interprofessional experiences of recent healthcare graduates: A social psychology perspective on the barriers to effective communication, teamwork, and patient-centred care.

Achieving safe, quality health care is highly dependent on effective communication between all members of the healthcare team. This study explored the attitudes and experiences of recent healthcare graduates regarding interprofessional teamwork and communication within a clinical setting. A total of 68 pharmacy, nursing, and medicine graduates participated in 12 semi-structured focus group discussions in clinical workplaces across three Australian states. Discussion focussed on graduates' experiences of interprofessional education and its impact on their capacity for interprofessional teamwork and communication. The Social Identity and Realistic Conflict theories were used as a framework for qualitative data analysis. A consistent pattern of profession-focussed, rather than patient- or team-focussed goals was revealed along with reports of negative stereotyping, hierarchical communication, and competition for time with the patient. Graduates acknowledged the importance of communication, teamwork, and patient-centred care and felt a better understanding of the roles of other health professionals would assist them to work together for patients' wellbeing. Identifying workplace identities and differential goals has uncovered possible motivations underlying health professionals' behaviour. These insights may help improve interprofessional collaboration by focusing attention on common team goals, increasing feelings of worth and being valued among different professionals, and decreasing the need for competition.

Factors Associated With Parental Rules for Adolescent Alcohol Use.

This study used the Resilient Families baseline survey to examine associations between the connectedness of parents within the school and parents' rules regarding their children's use of alcohol, prior participation in parenting education, and parents' demographic characteristics. The study involved parents of Year 7 students (mean age 12 years) at secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia (N = 1,238; 2004). Most parents (54%) had no connections with parents of other children in their child's school year. Allowing children to have sips of alcohol or drinks on special occasions was reported by 23% and 6% of parents, respectively, but neither was significantly associated with parental connectedness.

Recommendations from recent graduates in medicine, nursing and pharmacy on improving interprofessional education in university programs: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education (IPE) has been recognized as an innovative approach for the development of a collaborative, practice-ready health workforce, but is not used consistently in undergraduate health professional programs. We sought to explore the reflections of graduates on the IPE experiences they had during their undergraduate education and training. It was anticipated that having completed their pre-vocational education and spent up to two years working in a clinical environment, recent graduates would be well-placed to provide insights into the value of the IPE opportunities they had, and to suggest approaches for improving these opportunities in undergraduate programs. METHODS: This study was part of a larger research project (Interprofessional Education for the Quality use of Medicines; IPE for QuM) which used focus groups as part of an interpretive research design to inform other aspects of the research. Here, we report on focus groups with recent graduates recruited from area health services across Australia. RESULTS: Sixty-eight recent graduates working in New South Wales, Western Australia, and Tasmania participated in 12 focus group sessions. In this paper, we report on new graduates' reflections on their experiences of IPE as part of their university degree, as well as their recommendations to improve interprofessional education before graduation. The new graduates were unanimous in valuing IPE from their current perspective of being in the health workforce. Most IPE experiences recalled were regarded as positive, but those valued most highly were experiences that involved genuine engagement and opportunities to interact with students in other professions working on a relevant problem. Clinical placement was a missed opportunity with few structured meaningful interprofessional learning experiences. Surprisingly there was little social contact between professions in universities even when programs were co-located, thus reinforcing professional silos. CONCLUSIONS: The graduates provided many insightful reflections about the value of university-based IPE and their preparedness for clinical practice. Although universally acclaimed as a "good idea" there is much room for improvement. We put forward a set of suggestions to improve IPE and guide the design of future IPE efforts.

Perceptions of medical students and their facilitators on clinical communication skills teaching, learning, and assessment.

Introduction: Despite various efforts to develop communication skills (CS) in the classroom, the transfer of these skills into clinical practice is not guaranteed. This study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators of transferring CS from the classroom to clinical environments. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted at one Australian medical school to explore the experiences and perceptions of facilitators and students in relation to teaching and learning clinical CS. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Results: Twelve facilitators and sixteen medical students participated in semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions, respectively. Primary themes included the value of teaching and learning, alignment between approaches to teaching and actual clinical practices and students' perceptions of practice, and challenges in different learning environments. Discussion: This study reinforces the value of teaching and learning CS by facilitators and students. Classroom learning provides students with a structure to use in communicating with real patients, which can be modified to suit various situations. Students have limited opportunities, however, to be observed and receive feedback on their real-patient encounters. Classroom session that discussed CS experiences during clinical rotation is recommended to strengthen learning both the content and process of CS as well as transitioning to the clinical environment.