Communication Skills Training: A Means to Promote Time-Efficient Patient-Centered Communication in Clinical Practice

Abstract

Communication between patients and health care providers is a key component for an effective health care system, and patients are increasingly asking for individualized and personalized care and treatment. 1 Providing patient-centered care and treatment requires a fundamental knowledge of the patient, not only learning about biomedical aspects but also about the person behind the disease. 2,3 Consequently, patientcentered communication is required to elicit a patient's experiences, needs, values, and preferences. 4 Patient-centered communication is defined differently by experts, 4,5 but the central idea is that treatment and care depends on knowing the patient as a person. 6 The core elements of this approach to patient care are characterized by addressing the patient's perspective, understanding the patient's psychosocial context, and agreement on a shared plan for treatment and care. 7 Studies have shown associations between patientcentered communication and positive health outcomes, 7-10 increased patient satisfaction, 11,12 reduced medical expenditures, 13,14 and prevention of malpractice litigation. 15,16 Previous research has demonstrated that patient-centered communication can be learned through communication skills training, 17,18 that it improves health care provider (HCP) self-efficacy in patientcentered communication, 19 and patients' perception of PurposeWe hypothesized that health care providers would behave in a more patient-centered manner after the implementation of communication skills training, without causing the consultation to last longer. MethodsThis study was part of the large-scale implementation of a communication skills training program called "Clear-Cut Communication With Patients" at Lillebaelt Hospital in Denmark. Audio recordings from real-life consultations were collected in a pre-post design, with health care providers' participation in communication skills training as the intervention. The training was based on the Calgary-Cambridge Guide, and audio recordings were rated using the Observation Scheme-12. ResultsHealth care providers improved their communication behavior in favor of being more patient-centered.Results were tested using a mixed-effect model and showed significant differences between pre-and postintervention assessments, with a coefficient of 1.3 (95% Cl: 0.35-2.3; P=0.01) for the overall score. The consultations did not last longer after the training. ConclusionsHealth care providers improved their communication in patient consultations after the implementation of a large-scale patient-centered communication skills training program based on the Calgary-Cambridge Guide. This did not affect the length of the consultations.

A Qualitative Analysis of Older Adults’ Views of Healthcare Provider Attributes and Communication Skills

“…( 14 ) Effective communication skills training for HCPs has resulted in a more patient-centered care approach. ( 2 ) The Interprofessional Education Collaborative made effective communication their third core competency focusing on the need to train HCPs to “communicate with patients, families, communities, and professionals in health and other fields in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the promotion and maintenance of health and the prevention and treatment of disease”. ( 15 )…”

“…( 1 ) Effective patient-centered care and communication assist providers in better understanding patients’ experiences, values, and preferences. ( 2 ) Furthermore, empathetic communication has been shown to enhance patient experiences, improve health outcomes, and enhance trust. ( 3 ) The importance of patient-centered care and communication in healthcare is well studied,( 4 , 5 ) Hannawa et al discusses factors that patients’ value and utilized the Sufficient, Accurate, Clear, Contextualized, and Interpersonally Adaptive communication (SACCIA) evidence-based framework to explore the perspectives of physicians, nurses, and patients’ “good” and “poor” care encounters.…”

Facilitators and barriers to an organisation-based communication skills training program: an interview study

“…Furthermore, self-e cacy remained high, indicating the positive impact of using the taught skills in daily practice (56). In addition, the coding of HCP communication has shown a signi cant improvement in the overall performance score for patient-centred communication without affecting the length of the communication (57). Consequently, this suggests that CST can promote e cient and patient-centred treatment based on the Calgary Cambridge Guide.…”

Establishing the Competency Development and Talent Cultivation Strategies for Physician-Patient Shared Decision-Making Competency Based on the IAA-NRM Approach

“…Communication skills are needed for patient-centered care [ 41 ]. Physicians can appreciate patients’ culture, education, and language diversity and can accept the health values, beliefs, views, and feelings of patients and their families [ 8 , 42 ]. There are many ways to improve communication skills, such as using simple language, responding to teaching, verbal and nonverbal methods, gathering adequate information, checking the patient’s understanding, and expressing empathy [ 42 , 43 ].…”