Are interpersonal communication skills adequately taught at postgraduate specialist level in South Africa? The neurology experience

Abstract

Background: Interpersonal communication skills by clinicians with patients, carers, fellow health professionals and legal professionals carry many unique challenges in practice. Whilst undergraduate training in communication helps with generic information receiving and information giving, uncomfortable and demanding speciality-specific issues in the various medical specialities are not covered during under- and postgraduate training.Methods: The aim of this study was to determine the self-perceived competence of neurology registrars and neurologists in interpersonal communication and the need for such assessment in college exit exams. We undertook a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey by using self-administered printed questionnaires and the EvaSYS online system. Neurology registrars in training from the seven training centres in South Africa and neurologists based at the training centres and in the private sector were recruited.Results: We received a 62.9% response rate. One hundred and twenty-nine participants were recruited comprising 42 neurology registrars and 87 neurologists. Registrars were more commonly female, more likely to be multilingual and less likely to use translators. Undergraduate training in communication was considered insufficient, 42.9% and 39.1% for registrars and specialists respectively, and was also considered not relevant to address speciality-specific issues encountered in practice. Most training received has been by observation of others and on-the-job training. Both groups felt strongly that postgraduate training in interpersonal communication was important (registrars 95.2%, specialists 91.9%), especially when dealing with issues of death and dying, disclosing medical errors and dealing with the legal profession.Conclusion: Postgraduate training of interpersonal communication as required of neurology registrars and neurologists was considered insufficient. Most training has been by observation of others or experiential by trial and error. Assessment of interpersonal communication at board exit exams will drive postgraduate training and importantly will embrace the AfriMEDS framework developed to produce the holistic doctor in South Africa.

Integrating Project-Based Learning in Preparing Students' Interpersonal Communication Skills on Speaking Courses in Indonesia

“…According to the findings of this study (Table 3), the highest mean is 4.3, indicating that 315 respondents want to share their feelings or information with their peers or that the respondents want to share information on their minds with others. This result aligns with the fundamental concept of interpersonal communication skills (Bosede, 2023;Moodley et al, 2021). The two researchers confirmed that interpersonal communication never happens with just a single speaker.…”

“…The speaker can employ affective elements to better understand the speech partner and facilitate effective communication(Bosede, 2023;Ma & Lin, 2022). Another perspective on the fundamental idea of interpersonal communication skills is provided byMoodley et al (2021), who claim that interpersonal communication skills are a person's verbal and nonverbal abilities to communicate effectively in a group setting. Furthermore,Moodley et al (2021) emphasise that effective interpersonal communication requires speakers to be sensitive to the feelings and thoughts of their speech partners.…”

Disclosing medical errors: how do we prepare our students?

“…The lack of confidence in the ability to disclose errors, was also found in the aforementioned study of Moodley et al [20]. Among the neurology registrars participating, 28.6% deemed themselves competent in error disclosure, 38.1% reported that they lacked competence, with the remainder unsure.…”

“…Although the global medical education literature contained student appraisal of error disclosure training interventions [ 24 ], no South African study could be found that specifically asked undergraduate students to assess undergraduate training in error disclosure. However, Moodley et al [ 20 ] surveyed South African neurologists and neurology registrars. They reported an insufficient emphasis on the acquisition of complex interpersonal skills during undergraduate and postgraduate training.…”

“…In the South African setting, doctors and postgraduate trainees reported ineptitude in error disclosure and rudimentary training in complex communication skills, especially in postgraduate training [ 10 , 20 ]. However, questions emerged regarding the state of training in error disclosure at undergraduate level, how confident medical students are in this complex skill and how training in error disclosure can be improved.…”