Standardized Patients or Conventional Lecture for Teaching Communication Skills to Undergraduate Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

Objective The conduct of a medical interview is a challenging skill, even for the most qualified physicians. Since a training is needed to acquire the necessary skills to conduct an interview with a patient, we compared role-play with standardized patients (SP) training and a conventional lecture for the acquisition of communications skills in undergraduate medical students.Methods An entire promotion of third year undergraduate medical students, who never received any lessons about communications skills, were randomized into 4 arms: 1) SP 2 months before the testing of medical communications skills (SP); 2) conventional lecture 2 months before the testing (CL); 3) two control groups (CG) without any intervention, tested either at the beginning of the study or two months later. Students were blindly assessed by trained physicians with a modified 17-items Calgary-Cambridge scale.Results 388 students (98.7%) participated. SP performed better than CL, with significant statistical differences regarding 5 skills: the use of open and closed questions, encouraging patient responses, inviting the patient to clarify the missing items, encouraging of the patient’s emotions, and managing the time and the conduct of the interview. The SP group specifically improved communications skills between the SP training and testing sessions regarding 2 skills: the use of open and closed questions and encouraging patient responses. No improvements in communications skills were observed in CG between the two time points, ruling out a possible time effect.Conclusion Role-play with standardized patients appears more efficient than conventional lecture to acquire communication skills in undergraduate medical students.

Download Full-text

Simulated patient and role play methodologies for communication skills and empathy training of undergraduate medical students

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-020-02401-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Cristina Bagacean ◽

Ianis Cousin ◽

Anne-Helene Ubertini ◽

Mohamed El Yacoubi El Idrissi ◽

Anne Bordron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Role Play ◽

Skills Training ◽

Verbal Communication ◽

Simulated Patient ◽

Background Information ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Verbal Behaviour ◽

Verbal Messages

Abstract Background Verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as empathy are central to patient-doctor interactions and have been associated with patients’ satisfaction. Non-verbal communication tends to override verbal messages. The aim of this study was to analyze how medical students use verbal and non-verbal communication using two different educational approaches, student role play (SRP) and actor simulated patient (ASP), and whether the non-verbal behaviour is different in the two different poses. Methods Three raters evaluated 20 students playing the doctor role, 10 in the SRP group and 10 in the ASP group. The videos were analyzed with the Calgary-Cambridge Referenced Observation Guide (CCG) and, for a more accurate evaluation of non-verbal communication, we also evaluated signs of nervousness, and posture. Empathy was rated with the CARE questionnaire. Independent Mann Whitney U tests and Qhi square tests were performed for statistical analysis. Results From the 6 main tasks of the CCG score, we obtained higher scores in the ASP group for the task ‘Gathering information’ (p = 0.0008). Concerning the 17 descriptors of the CCG, the ASP group obtained significantly better scores for ‘Exploration of the patients’ problems to discover the biomedical perspective’ (p = 0.007), ‘Exploration of the patients’ problems to discover background information and context’ (p = 0.0004) and for ‘Closing the session – Forward planning’ (p = 0.02). With respect to non-verbal behaviour items, nervousness was significantly higher in the ASP group compared to the SRP group (p < 0.0001). Concerning empathy, no differences were found between the SRP and ASP groups. Conclusions Medical students displayed differentiated verbal and non-verbal communication behaviour during the two communication skills training methodologies. These results show that both methodologies have certain advantages and that more explicit non-verbal communication training might be necessary in order to raise students’ awareness for this type of communication and increase doctor-patient interaction effectiveness.

Download Full-text

Teaching Communication Skills in Undergraduate Medical Students : Is Role Play Going to Help ?

World Family Medicine Journal/Middle East Journal of Family Medicine ◽

10.5742/mejfm.2013.115268 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 28-35

Author(s):

Firdous Jahan ◽

Huda Sultan Al Shibli ◽

Najam Siddiqi

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Role Play ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students

Download Full-text

Simultaneous Evaluation of Communication Skills by Standardized Patients and Medical Evaluators

Medical University ◽

10.2478/medu-2019-0007 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 36-44

Author(s):

Miguel A. Fernández-Villacañas ◽

Matilde Moreno-Cascales ◽

Sergio Alemán-Belando ◽

Manuel Matías-Sánchez ◽

Diego Flores-Funes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Standardized Patients ◽

Clinical Situation ◽

Economic Costs ◽

External Appearance ◽

Simultaneous Evaluation ◽

Health Related ◽

Communications Skills ◽

The Mean

Abstract Introduction: The present study analyzes the evaluation of communication skills by standardized patients (SPs) and medical evaluators (Es) in an OSCE setting. Methods: The OSCE involved 189 sixth-year medical students, as well as 34 SPs and 63 Es. Communications skills were evaluated in 8 stations, simultaneously by SPs and Es. The SPs were actors who had been trained in the clinical case and who acted in accordance with a standardized script in a simulated clinical situation. The evaluators, also standardized, were Resident Doctors or staff Doctors from the Hospital Services involved. Results: The global scores awarded to students for communication skills were very similar in both groups, although the score awarded by Es was significantly higher, and a direct relationship was also observed between the mean scores awarded by both groups. Evaluators awarded significantly higher scores than SPs in 7 out of the 10 items on the checklist. Female medical students also scored significantly higher than their male counterparts in many items, including external appearance, listening, cordiality, optimism, interest, expression and empathy. Discussion: Our data indicate that SPs and Es evaluated communication skills in a similar manner in an OSCE setting, a finding which suggests that health-related professionals can be used as an alternative to SPs, thus helping to lower economic costs. Our study also confirms a gender difference (in favor of women) in the evaluation of communications skills by both groups.

Download Full-text

Simultaneous Evaluation of Communication Skills by Standardized Patients and Medical Evaluators

10.20944/preprints201904.0038.v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Miguel A. Fernández-Villacañas ◽

Matilde Moreno-Cascales ◽

Sergio Alemán-Belando ◽

Manuel Matías-Sánchez ◽

Diego Flores-Funes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Gender Difference ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Standardized Patients ◽

Clinical Situation ◽

Economic Costs ◽

External Appearance ◽

Simultaneous Evaluation ◽

Health Related ◽

Communications Skills

Background: The present study analyzes the evaluation of communication skills by standardized patients (SPs) and medical evaluators (Es) in an OSCE setting. Methods: The OSCE involved 189 sixth-year medical students, as well as 34 SPs and 63 Es. Communications skills were evaluated in 8 stations, simultaneously by SPs and Es. The SPs were actors who had been trained in the clinical case and who acted in accordance with a standardized script in a simulated clinical situation. The evaluators, also standardized, were Resident Doctors or staff Doctors from the Hospital Services involved. Results: The global scores awarded to students for communication skills were very similar in both groups, although the score awarded by Es was significantly higher, and a direct relationship was also observed between the mean scores awarded by both groups. Evaluators awarded significantly higher scores than SPs in 7 out of the 10 items on the checklist. Female medical students also scored significantly higher than their male counterparts in many items, including external appearance, listening, cordiality, optimism, interest, expression and empathy. Conclusions: Our data indicate that SPs and Es evaluated communication skills in a similar manner in an OSCE setting, a finding which suggests that health-related professionals can be used as an alternative to SPs, thus helping to lower economic costs. Our study also confirms a gender difference (in favor of women) in the evaluation of communications skills by both groups.Our data indicate that SPs and Es evaluated communication skills in a similar manner in an OSCE setting, a finding which suggests that health-related professionals can be used as an alternative to SPs, thus helping to lower economic costs. Our study also confirms a gender difference (in favor of women) in the evaluation of communications skills by both groups.

Download Full-text

Simulated patient and role play methodologies for communication skills and empathy training of undergraduate medical students

10.21203/rs.2.23178/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Cristina Bagacean ◽

Ianis Cousin ◽

Anne-Helene Ubertini ◽

Mohamed El Yacoubi El Idrissi ◽

Anne Bordron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Role Play ◽

Skills Training ◽

Verbal Communication ◽

Simulated Patient ◽

Background Information ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Verbal Behaviour ◽

Verbal Messages

Abstract Background Verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as empathy are central to patient-doctor interactions and have been associated with patients’ satisfaction. Non-verbal communication tends to override verbal messages. The aim of this study was to analyze how medical students use verbal and non-verbal communication using two different educational approaches, student role play (SRP) and actor simulated patient (ASP), and whether the non-verbal behaviour is different in the two different poses. Methods Three raters evaluated 20 students playing the doctor role, 10 in the SRP group and 10 in the ASP group. The videos were analyzed with the Calgary-Cambridge Referenced Observation Guide (CCG) and, for a more accurate evaluation of non-verbal communication, we also evaluated signs of nervousness, and posture. Empathy was rated with the CARE questionnaire. Independent Mann Whitney U tests and Qhi square tests were performed for statistical analysis. Results From the 6 main tasks of the CCG score, we obtained higher scores in the ASP group for the task ‘Gathering information’ (p=0.0008). Concerning the 17 descriptors of the CCG, the ASP group obtained significantly better scores for ‘Exploration of the patients’ problems to discover the biomedical perspective’ (p=0.007), ‘Exploration of the patients’ problems to discover background information and context’ (p=0.0004) and for ‘Closing the session – Forward planning’ (p=0.02). With respect to non-verbal behaviour items, nervousness was significantly higher in the ASP group compared to the SRP group (p<0.0001). Concerning empathy, no differences were found between the SRP and ASP groups. Conclusions Medical students displayed differentiated verbal and non-verbal communication behaviour during the two communication skills training methodologies. These results show that both methodologies have certain advantages and that more explicit non-verbal communication training might be necessary in order to raise students’ awareness for this type of communication and increase doctor-patient interaction effectiveness.

Download Full-text