Teaching Communication Skills

Abstract

As expected, initially some health coach students complained about their perceived increased workloads compared with the workloads of students in the shadowing track. Some students also expressed reservations about their abilities to be effective with their patients, but these complaints diminished as students made contact with patients. For many, this opportunity to establish continuity relationships with patients helped students begin to understand difficulties inherent in effecting health-behavior change. Some students expressed appreciation for the opportunity to discuss their increased self-awareness about communication as well as relationship difficulties and strengths during the small-group sessions. Data analysis is under way. Lessons learned from this project influenced a major first-year curriculum revision the following year, resulting in increased emphasis on basic communication skills and the use of small groups to reach a variety of curricular objectives.

National Survey Assessment of the United States’ Pediatric Residents’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Newborn Screening

“…One study showed that RES used a large number of jargon words such as gene, sweat test, carrier, and sickle cell during a mock encounter with parents [19]. Additional training such as mock encounters with input from experienced faculty may be useful in boosting RES confidence [20,21]. RES can benefit from improved communication skills not just during encounters for abnormal NBS, but for any situation as it is a necessary part of the core competencies acquired during residency.…”

Implementation of new Healthy Conversation Skills to support lifestyle changes - what helps and what hinders? Experiences of Sure Start Children’s Centre staff

“…This again is related to Bandura’s (1997) notion that having a belief that one can use skills facilitates their use. Having staff who communicate better may therefore not only benefit the parent, but also the staff members themselves by providing them with positive reinforcement and enhanced self‐efficacy (Wagner et al. 2002).…”

“…The notion of ‘client‐centred’ care places the client in control of their own health, working together with a healthcare practitioner. Client‐centred care has been associated with a range of positive outcomes, such as increased self‐efficacy, compliance with treatment and better clinical outcomes (Wagner et al. 2002, Zachariae et al.…”

Communication skills for behaviour change in dietetic consultations

“…, 2008), improved patient recall and understanding (Zick et al. , 2007) and improved clinical outcomes (Wagner et al. , 2002; Stewart et al.…”