Teaching future doctors to communicate: a communication intervention for medical students in their clinical year

ABSTRACT

Background: Effective patient–provider communication enables shared decision-making and leads to improved patient satisfaction, treatment adherence and health outcomes. The ideal time for developing effective patient–provider communication skills is during a student’s clinical training, yet few medical schools have a formal communication curriculum during the clinical year.

Methods: We developed a communication curriculum for third-year medical students during clinical training, involving videotaped mock patient interactions and direct instruction by a communication professor. The final mock interviews of the intervention group (n = 10) and the control group (n = 9) were assessed by three blinded communication professors using a communication assessment tool.

Results: Students who received the communication intervention scored higher than controls overall and in each of four subcategories (identification convergence, information seeking, information giving, nonverbal behaviors), a pattern statistically significant using a one-tailed sign test (P = 0.031). The intervention group’s subscore for information giving was also significantly higher (Wilcoxon Rank Sum test, P = 0.047).

Discussion: The communication intervention was successful in improving the students’ communication skills, especially information giving, which is critical to enabling patients to make informed decisions in shared decision-making. A curriculum emphasizing the practical application of communication skills in the clinical year can produce measurable improvements in medical students’ communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Patient–provider communication
• communication training
• undergraduate medical education
• shared decision-making
• interpersonal communication
• patient satisfaction
• communication intervention
• nonverbal communication

Ethical approval

The Ethics Committee at Bassett Healthcare Systems reviewed the study and determined exemption status. Ref # 46.101.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Krista Suojanen attended Columbia University for medical school from 2010 to 2014. At Columbia, she was a student in the Columbia-Bassett track and a member of its first graduating class. The program collaborated with faculty from the School of Public Health and Business School to expose its students to some of the larger issues underlying the U.S. health care system and the way it works.

Kirby Woodall attended Columbia University for medical school and was a student in the Columbia-Bassett track. She currently practices obstetrics and gynecology at the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia, MO

Joshua R. Hammonds received his Ph.D. from University of Nebraska (2009) in Communication. His current research interests focus on the communicative management of relationships within physician–patient relationships.

Daphne Monie received her Ph.D. in Immunology (2004) from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was director of research from the Columbia University’s Medical School Columbia-Bassett track.

Melissa Scribani, M.P.H., specializes in research coordination, study design, and statistical analysis in healthcare-related research projects.

Nicole Krupa is a data analyst and statistician who specializes in healthcare research projects.

Paul Jenkins received his Ph.D. from SUNY Albany in Statistics and specializes in clinical trial design, writing SAPs, and a wide variety of data and statistical analyses.

Henry Weil received his M.D. from Columbia University Medical School. He is the co-founding Senior Associate Dean for the Columbia-Bassett Program.

Joshua J. Frye received his Ph.D. from Purdue University and specializes in persuasion theory, organizational leadership, and rhetorical theory and criticism.

ORCID

Kirby Woodall http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5416-958X

Daphne Monie http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2250-7078