scholarly journals Have medical students’ attitudes towards clinical communication skills changed over a 12- year period? A comparative long-term study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Gude ◽  
Reidar Tyssen ◽  
Tor Anvik ◽  
Hilde Grimstad ◽  
Are Holen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Attitudes towards learning clinical communication skills at the end of medical school are likely to reflect the students’ training and motivation for the continued development of their skills as doctors. Students from two Norwegian medical schools, one with a traditional, and the other with an integrated curriculum, were approached in 2003 and 2015; with regard to changes in students’ attitudes towards acquiring communication skills in two diverse learning environments. This comparison might reveal the effects of the training programs from a long-term perspective, as neither of the medical schools made any major curriculum changes within the study period. Methods The samples comprised final-year medical students. Two separate cross-sectional surveys performed 12 years apart (2003 and 2015) used items from the Communication Skills Attitude Scale in addition to age and gender. The traditional curriculum included only theoretical teaching and no contact with patients was made during the first 2 to 2.5 years of medical school. However, the integrated curriculum combined training in theoretical and clinical communication skills with early patient contact from the beginning. Results Attitudes improved from the first to the second survey at both schools, however, students from the integrated school reported more positive attitudes than those from the traditional school. Female students from the integrated school contributed the most to the difference in attitudes in both surveys. Conclusions Students in both traditional and integrated curricula improved their attitudes from the first to the second assessment. However, compared with the traditional curriculum, the integrated one fostered even higher levels of positive attitudes towards acquiring communication skills, and a pronounced influence was observed on female students. These findings suggest that an educational program with greater emphasis on improving attitudes among male students may be required.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Shezadi Sabah Imran ◽  
Ariba Umer ◽  
Asifa Khan ◽  
Bushra Bibi ◽  
Aqsa Zainab ◽  
...  

Objective: To determine and compare empathy among medical students, studying two different curricula.Study Design: Cross Sectional.Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the Department of Community Medicine of WahMedical College, Wah Cantt from January 2018 to June 2018.Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on second and fourth year MBBS students. The sample sizewas 90, calculated by Open Epi calculator and the students were selected by using stratified random samplingtechnique. A data collection tool comprised of two parts; demographic information about the individual wascollected in the first part and second part was based on Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. The questionnaire had16 questions and scored between 0-64. The questions were responded on a Likert scale of never, rarely,sometimes, often and always. The data was analyzed by using software program of SPSS version 20. Descriptivestatistics and Mann-Whitney U test was applied to compare the mean scores of empathy of students studyingdifferent curricula.Results: Mean score of empathy among students was 42.89+ 8.535. Mean empathy score of 2 year studentsth nd was 45.58 +7.203 and 4 year students came out to be 40.20 +8.981. Empathy was statistically significant in 2 year students and in female students; female students' empathy score was 46.38 while male students score was 39.40.Conclusion: It is concluded that 2 year students who studied integrated curriculum showed higher empathyth scores than 4 year students studying traditional curriculum. Moreover, female students showed significantlyhigher empathy scores as compared to the male students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-147
Author(s):  
Nicoleta SUCIU ◽  
◽  
Lorena Elena MELIȚ ◽  
Cristina Oana MĂRGINEAN ◽  
◽  
...  

Communication is definitely one of the most important contributing factor for an ideal doctor-patient relationship. The major importance of communication is to build a proper relationship with the patients, in which the empathy and respect play an essential role and can be taught and improved with proper training. This process is defined as cross-culture communication and it has to be taught during medical school. Patient-centered communication is a concept closely related to cross-culture communication and it might be defined by the physician’s ability to tailor communication to each patient’s need and level of understanding in order to provide patient-centered care. Training of clinical communication skills in medical students is an incontestable emergency for the patient’s outcome. Medical education formerly focused on training students for solving only the medical problems by providing the treatment for their organic problems. Medical schools recently included in undergraduate curricula clinical communication courses in order to improve student’s and future physician’s the ability to obtain relevant information from their patients, to build strong doctorpatient relationships and provide patient-centered care. Various models were elaborated for teaching and assessing clinical communication skills, which were found to improve multiple aspects of physician-patient communication among which counseling, interviewing techniques and prescription. Medical schools should properly address to clinical communication skills by including training courses in each year of education focused on the specific of the learned medical fields. It is crucial for implementing proper assessment methods in order to prevent and diminish as much as possible the factors that might negatively impact the development of doctor-patient relationship. Proper medical training in terms of clinical communication skills should be initiated during medical school in all students that deal with patients, but also after the graduation, periodically in all health care providers for assuring an ideal outcome for their patients.


2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 104-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henna Qureshi ◽  
Stuart Carney ◽  
Amy Iversen

Aims and methodPsychiatry in the UK has long-standing issues in recruiting UK-trained doctors. A key potential influence on interest in psychiatry during medical school is the clinical attachment. This narrative review investigates how the clinical experience of psychiatry affects medical students' attitudes towards the specialty.ResultsWe identified 107 studies, of which 46 were included. They showed that clinical attachments in psychiatry did result in more positive attitudes towards the specialty and increased career interest. There was inconsistent evidence on whether interest was maintained, with some studies indicating that the increase is transient. Factors which may influence attitudes include attachment setting, duration and student demographics.Clinical implicationsThe results suggest a need to actively maintain interest in psychiatry throughout medical school. Research with long-term follow-up and evaluation of schemes to maintain students' interest is needed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 238212052110283
Author(s):  
Taylor M Coe ◽  
Trevor J McBroom ◽  
Sarah A Brownlee ◽  
Karen Regan ◽  
Stephen Bartels ◽  
...  

Background: Patient care restrictions created by the COVID-19 pandemic constrained medical students’ ability to interact directly with patients. Additionally, organ transplant recipients faced increasing isolation due to the rise of telemedicine, the importance of social distancing and their immunosuppressed state. We created a pilot program to pair students with transplant patients for structured, virtual encounters and studied its impact on medical students and patients. Methods: In May 2020, medical students conducted virtual visits with patients via telephone or video conferencing. Patients and students were surveyed regarding their experiences and independent focus groups were conducted. The survey responses and focus group discussions were deidentified, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Results: Ten participating students were in their first, second, or final year of medical school. The 14 patients were liver or kidney transplant recipients or kidney donors. All interactions lasted longer than 30 minutes, with 56% greater than 1 hour. Three themes emerged related to the student experience: improvement of their clinical communication skills, development of knowledge and attitudes related to organ transplantation and donation, and independent management of a patient encounter. Three themes related to the patient experience: appreciation of the opportunity to share their personal patient experience to help educate future physicians, a cathartic and personally illuminating experience and an opportunity to share the message of donation. Conclusions: This pilot program provided a novel opportunity for virtual student-patient interactions that was feasible, well-received, and mutually beneficial. The use of virtual non-medical patient experiences allowed for experiential learning during which students learned about both clinical medicine and enhanced their communication skills directly from patients. Additionally, patients were able to engage with medical students in a new way, as teachers of clinical interactions, and reported a high level of satisfaction in addition to deriving personal benefit.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 999-1008
Author(s):  
Selcuk Mistik

In this study the experiences of final-year medical students performing gender-specific examinations were assessed. In 2006, all students in the final year of medical school at the University of Erciyes, Turkey, were given a questionnaire containing 17 questions on gender-specific examinations. A total of 200 (94%) students completed the questionnaire. Female students were less confident in performing male genital and prostate examinations. In this study, it was demonstrated that there was suboptimal exposure to gender-specific examinations, resulting particularly in less than confident female students. Student logbooks should be used more accurately and efficiently to increase opportunities to perform gender-specific examinations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Fatiha Tasmin Jeenia ◽  
Afroza Hoque ◽  
Mehrunnissa Khanom ◽  
Selim Md Jahangir ◽  
Rozina Hoque ◽  
...  

Background: Bangladesh, A country with scintillating beauty of nature burdened with a dense population. Along with infectious diseases, tropical diseases are also prevalent here with a higher trend of non- communicable diseases as a result of industrialization. Practicing and prescribing as a doctor is a quite challenging profession here particularly when to deal with vast rural populations in a low resource facility. Medical education system is well developed in Bangladesh which follows traditional curriculum of teaching learning. Students are not accustomed with problem-based learning as it does not exist in curriculum. In order to confront with diverse disease pattern and overloaded population in this arduous backdrop of Bangladesh, problem- based learning can be a very effective tool for preparing medical students as an efficient, self- directed and insightful prescriber. This study was a primary step to introduce problem- based learning (PBL) to medical students of Bangladesh to evaluate the effectiveness of PBL in context of Bangladesh. Methods: Around 117 students of 4th year from 6 different medical colleges were randomly assigned for this study. Among them, half of the students attended PBL session for three days on a topic of Pharmacology and other students participated traditional lecture class. Following classes, odds ratio of performance was determined. MCQ, SAQ and total scores of assessment were compared. Comparison of scores was also done between male and female students of PBL group. Results: PBL students performed better than the LBL students. Odds ratio of their assessment performance was 252.08; with 95% confidence interval and lower range 53.89 and upper range 1179.28. The odds ratio showed strong association between PBL and student performance in Bangladesh context. Mean of total score was 30.7 ± 4.3 in PBL group and 17.2 ± 4.8 in LBL group. Total score was significantly higher (p= 0.000) in PBL group. Mean SAQ score in PBL and LBL group was 17.2 ± 2.2 and 5.3 ± 1.9 respectively which was extremely significant (p= 0.000). MCQ score mean was 13.4 ± 3.4 in PBL group versus 11.8 ± 3.7 in LBL group which was significantly higher in PBL group (p= 0.02). Among PBL group, total score and SAQ score was significantly higher in female students over male students. Conclusion: Significant findings of this study revealed PBL as an effective tool in Bangladesh context. Thereby, it is recommended from this study to take approaches for further study and initiative to incorporate PBL in curriculum as well. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.12(1) 2021: 22-31


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Vijayalakshmi S. Bhojaraja ◽  
B. K. Manjunatha Goud ◽  
Joan Kumar ◽  
Anand Srinivasan ◽  
Jeevan K. Shetty

Objectives: Our medical school followed the traditional curriculum earlier, and due to a large amount of content embedded in each discipline, which had less scope for active and deep learning. To overcome this, we adopted an integrated curriculum and introduced a few active teaching/learning (T/L) methodologies, which promote deep learning and problem-solving skills. One such T/L methodology we introduced was team-based learning (TBL). Before implementing this active T/L methodology in the integrated curriculum, we evaluated the effectiveness of TBL in medical students from the traditional curriculum and aimed to determine students’ perceptions. Furthermore, we aimed to explore the perception of TBL in students who underwent integrated curriculum to evaluate the difference in their perception compared to the traditional curriculum. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in RAK Medical and Health Sciences University on the 1st year medical students from the traditional and integrated curriculum. Institutional ethical committee clearance and informed consent were obtained before starting the study. A pre-validated 5-item survey questionnaire comprising questions related to the content, process, and teamwork was used to obtain perceptions of students’ on TBL. Results: The students positively perceived the teaching-learning experience using TBL and understood the concepts better. Even the students with integrated curriculum had the same positive impact on their learning attitudes. The majority of students in both cohorts agreed that discussion among their teams helped them to learn better. Around two-thirds (66%) of students from the traditional curriculum and one-third (39%) of students from integrated curriculum wanted TBLs as T/L methodology over didactic lectures. Conclusion: TBL helped to learn better and understand the subject and promoted self and peer engagement, which facilitated their learning by clarifying the doubts with peers. Due to this positive TBL experience, most students from both curriculums recommended its use as a T/L method over lecture. Hence, TBL sessions in medical schools can be used as an effective T/L method to facilitate meaningful learning.


2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Raftery ◽  
Particia Scowen

Communication is an essential component of surgical practice. Awareness of its importance is increasing among surgeons due to both the association between litigation and poor communication and recent requirements for obtaining informed consent. The General Medical Council has stated that medical students should have acquired and demonstrated their proficiency in communication by the end of their undergraduate education. Furthermore, communication skills assessment is now a pass/fail component of the intercollegiate MRCS examination of the surgical royal colleges.


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