Integrating medical and practical skills in communication skills training: Do students feel it supports them with transfer from classroom to practice?

Objective: To describe innovations in a clinical communication skills training (CCST) program, aimed at facilitating transfer of communication skills from classroom to clinical practice and report student's evaluations regarding this program. Methods: To facilitate transfer, we integrated CCS with medical and practical skills, and we developed simulation sessions closely resembling clinical practice in case-history's, length of consultation, and patient-population. Feedback was given on communication skills and medical knowledge and skills. Student's opinions about whether these elements were helpful, were evaluated using a questionnaire. Results: Responses of 144 students were analyzed. The majority of the respondents agreed that this CCST program helped them with transfer of CCS from classroom to clinical practice, as did the feedback on medical content and communication skills in the same session. Conclusion: Students indicate that simulations resembling clinical practice and feedback on both CST and medical content facilitate the transfer of their skills to clinical practice. Innovation: This CCST program is innovative because it integrates medical and practical skills, with elements aiming to create an educational environment resembling clinical practice as closely as possible in order to facilitate transfer to clinical practice.

Fifteen simulated patient working formats to use in communication skills training: Report of a survey.

OBJECTIVE: Simulated and standardized patients (SPs) are increasingly being used in communication skills training for healthcare professionals' education. Despite this broad use of SPs, there is no recent literature with an overview on SP working formats being used. We ran a study to fill this gap. METHODS: First, a survey on formats on the use of SPs in various curricula for education of healthcare professionals in Belgium and The Netherlands was run by members of the Dutch Association of Medical Education Special Interest Group on Simulated and Standardized patients (SIG-NL/B). Then the SIG-NL/B organized a national workshop where professionals working with or interested in SPs were invited to come forward with SP working formats they used. They were also asked to provide relevant details about the use. Finally, the outcomes of these two phases were combined. RESULTS: Fifteen SP working formats were found. Six of them were described before. The details of all formats are listed and discussed. CONCLUSION: We categorised 15 SP working formats. The choice to use a particular format is mainly based on the learning objectives of the session involved and the expertise at hand.

Assessing patient-centred communication in teaching: a systematic review of instruments.

CONTEXT: Patient-centred communication is a key component of patient centredness in medical care. Therefore, adequate education in and assessment of patient-centred communication skills are necessary. In general, feedback on communication skills is most effective when it is provided directly and is systematic. This calls for adequate measurement instruments. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to provide a systematic review of existing instruments that measure patient centredness in doctor-patient communication and can be used to provide direct feedback. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using an extensive validated search strategy for measurement instruments in PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL. The databases were searched from their inception to 1 July 2016. Articles describing the development or evaluation of the measurement properties of instruments that measure patient centredness (by applying three or more of the six dimensions of a published definition of patient centredness) in doctor-patient communication and that can be used for the provision of direct feedback were included. The methodological quality of measurement properties was evaluated using the COSMIN checklist. RESULTS: Thirteen articles describing 14 instruments measuring patient centredness in doctor-patient communication were identified. These studies cover a wide range of settings and patient populations, and vary in the dimensions of patient centredness applied and in methodological quality on aspects of reliability and validity. CONCLUSIONS: This review gives a comprehensive overview of all instruments available for the measurement of patient centredness in doctor-patient communication that can be used for the provision of direct feedback and are described in the literature. Despite the widely felt need for valid and reliable instruments for the measurement of patient-centred communication, most of the instruments currently available have not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, we recommend further research into and enhancement of existing instruments in terms of validity and reliability, along with enhancement of their generalisability, responsiveness and aspects of interpretability in different contexts (real patients, simulated patients, doctors in different specialties, etc.). Comprehensibility and feasibility should also be taken into account.