Teaching and assessment of communication skills in undergraduate dental education – a survey in German‐speaking countries

Abstract

The necessity to train and assess communication skills has reached German-speaking dental schools. The present survey allows an overview of the training and assessment of communication skills in undergraduate dental education in German-speaking Europe.

Identification of influence factors for the implementation of communication curricula in dental education

“…The data of two recently published surveys were taken as the basis for further analysis . In these surveys, German‐speaking medical and dental schools state the current situation regarding the teaching of communication skills at their university .…”

“…All dental schools (and, respectively, medical schools) received the same questionnaire and could ask for help if there was some reason for misunderstanding. The full questionnaires and all details have already been published …”

“…In 2013, the teaching committee of the European Association for Communication in Health care published European consensus on learning objectives for a core curriculum in healthcare professions . A recently published survey from German‐speaking countries could reveal that there are still large quantitative and also qualitative differences to which extent and how communicative topics are taught and assessed . All dental schools in Germany, Austria and Switzerland received the same online questionnaire and answered it on a voluntary basis.…”

“…15 A recently published survey from Germanspeaking countries could reveal that there are still large quantitative and also qualitative differences to which extent and how communicative topics are taught and assessed. 20 All dental schools in Germany, Austria and Switzerland received the same online questionnaire and answered it on a voluntary basis. Thirty-four dental schools participated in the survey (94.4% of all dental schools).…”

“…The most common format, in which communication skills are taught in German-speaking dental schools, is training in small groups. 20 It was demonstrated that training the faculty to facilitate communication skills training plays an important role in the development of a curriculum. 27 Furthermore, the high costs of such teaching programmes have been reported.…”