Teaching and assessing communication skills in medical undergraduate training

Abstract

Good communication skills are essential for an optimal doctor-patient relationship, and also contribute to improved health outcomes. Although the need for training in communication skills is stated as a requirement in the 1997 Graduate Medical Education Regulations of the Medical Council of India, formal training in these skills has been fragmentary and non-uniform in most Indian curricula. The Vision 2015 document of the Medical Council of India reaffirms the need to include training in communication skills in the MBBS curriculum. Training in communication skills needs approaches which are different from that of teaching other clinical subjects. It is also a challenge to ensure that students not only imbibe the nuances of communication and interpersonal skills, but adhere to them throughout their careers. This article addresses the possible ways of standardizing teaching and assessment of communication skills and integrating them into the existing curriculum.

Workplace-based Assessment: An Important Tool for Trainee Assessment

“…Assessment in examination situation provides students appropriate timely feedback, and stimuli to improve. When conducted in a workplace situation with observed feedback, assessment gives students practice in different clinical context in a nonthreatening environment 4 . Assessment methods would include consideration of the balance between formative and summative assessment, the number of examinations and other tests, the balance between different types of examinations( written and oral), the use of normative and criterion judgement, and the use of personal portfolio and log-books and mini clinical evaluation exercise ( MiniCEX).…”

Teaching Medical and Health Sciences students to develop e-posters with Learning Toolbox

“…Masters K, Treasure-Jones T, Elferink R MedEdPublish https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2018.0000072.1 Communication skills are essential for health professionals, and are used in day-to-day interaction with patients and colleagues. (Epner and Baile 2014;Hinkle et al 2017;Modi et al 2016;Roze des Ordons et al 2016;Sanson-Fisher and Cockburn 1997) Current medical student communication skills' training and assessment focuses on face-toface, verbal communication. (Boileau, Patenaude, and St-Onge 2018;Goldhamer et al 2018;Hinkle et al 2017;Joyce, Steenbergh, and Scher 2010) As we progress through the 21 st century, however, more and more communication happens electronically and asynchronously; while health professionals' communication via email and texting has been explored, other forms of communication will need attention as their potential becomes more obvious.…”

Teaching Communication Skills and Decision-Making to University Students

“…This training module is designed both for individual and group study (Bishop et al, 2016). Possible ways for standardization of teaching communicative skills, assessment of certain communication factors before and after the courses of study, their integration into educational programs are proposed (Drdla & Loffler-Stastka, 2016;Kölfen, 2016;Modi et al, 2016;McKenzie, 2016;Cämmerer, Martin & Rockenbauch, 2016;Turner et al, 2016;Luttenberger et al, 2014;Mole, 2016;Hess et al, 2016).…”