"Checking up" on Medical Training Programs and Assessments for Foreign Trained Doctors through Multimodal Analysis

Abstract

Studies have investigated the culturally-bound characteristics of active listening across several disciplines, including psychology, business and conflict mediation (Lamiani, et al., 2008). Active listening is also valuable in multicultural and multilingual medical consultations as it improves doctor-patient relationships within a patient-centred care model of practice (Vogel et al., 2018). However, there is a dearth of research regarding the extent to which individual behaviours pertaining to active listening are present in clinical interactions. The present study evaluates multimodal active listening performances of non-native English-speaking medical doctors during Objective Structured Clinical Examinations against ideal models of active listening behaviours. Results indicate that non-native speakers' active listening behaviours differed from the baseline study in a number of verbal and non-verbal areas, the ramifications of which could impact perceptions of doctors' indifference regarding patients' health experience. Explanations for the findings and research and pedagogical applications are offered.