Development and introduction of a communication skills module for postgraduate students of ophthalmology

Abstract

Purpose:Effective communication lies at the heart of a patient--doctor relationship. Communication skills (CS) teaching and assessment is not a part of the postgraduate (PG) curriculum. Lack of effective CS in current PG students’ results in patient distrust and dissatisfaction, conflicts, and compromised healthcare. The regulatory authorities of medical education have recognized the need to inculcate soft skills among medical graduates, one of which is CS. The purpose of this study was to assess the need for teaching CS to ophthalmology PG students and develop and introduce a module for the same.Methods:In this prospective, interventional study done at the ophthalmology department of a tertiary hospital, a validated 8 day CS workshop was conducted for 60 PG students through interactive lectures, observations, video sessions, and role plays. Feedbacks were obtained through narratives, validated Google survey, reflections and verbal method and analyzed.Results:In the needs assessment done on 27 departmental faculties, 20 faculties found poor communication to be a major reason for patient complaints. All faculties agreed that CS should be taught to medical students. Statistically significant improvement in CS awareness was noted among students after the workshop. Lack of CS training, work burden, and language were identified as main barriers to effective communication. All the students were satisfied with the workshop and wanted it to be conducted regularly.Conclusion:This study establishes that CS training is essential to improve patient satisfaction and patient-doctor relationships. Barriers to effective CS could be identified, for which possible solutions could be found.

Evaluation of Foundation Course for First-Year Medical Undergraduates in a Medical College of Eastern India

“…The importance-skill gap in the communication subscale in the present study was 9.63. Postgraduate ophthalmology students reported poor communication skills and poor baseline awareness of communication skills (13). A study conducted in Israel showed poor baseline performance at breaking bad news before a simulation-based mastery learning curriculum (14).…”

Teaching and Assessing Soft Skills for Health and Education Professionals: A Scoping Review

“…Feedback provides information of what learners are doing correctly, and what needs to change in their performance to reach criterion. Although eleven of the reviewed studies used feedback as a teaching method, only six used feedback with simulations or role play (Bhagat et al, 2019;Cziraki et al, 2008;Minden, 2013;Pang et al, 2021;Schutt et al, 2017;Sidebotham et al, 2020).…”

“…There is growing evidence for the use of digital tools in teaching soft skills to health and education professional trainees (Bhagat et al, 2019;Charoensap-Kelly et al, 2016;Conkey et al, 2013;Deptula & Chun, 2013;Giussi Bordoni et al, 2019;Ibrahim et al, 2018;Maschuw et al, 2011;Plotzky et al, 2021;Sagorika & Hasegawa, 2018;Schutt et al, 2017). The use of digital technologies varied from using video models (Bhagat et al, 2019;Charoensap-Kelly et al, 2016;Deptula & Chun, 2013;Sagorika & Hasegawa, 2018) to virtual simulations and live feedback (Conkey et al, 2013;Maschuw et al, 2011;Schutt et al, 2017).…”

Comments on: Development and introduction of a communication skills module for postgraduate students of ophthalmology

“…for their article highlighting the need for structured training in communication skills for postgraduate ophthalmology students. [ 1 ] While reassured by the effectiveness of their proposed teaching model, we found it surprising to read that there is a lack of communication skills teaching currently within medical school curricula.…”