Comparing three experiential learning methods and their effect on medical students’ attitudes to learning communication skills

Abstract Purpose The world’s population is ageing. Therefore, every doctor should receive geriatric medicine training during their undergraduate education. This review aims to summarise recent developments in geriatric medicine that will potentially inform developments and updating of undergraduate medical curricula for geriatric content. Methods We systematically searched the electronic databases Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase and Pubmed, from 1st January 2009 to 18th May 2021. We included studies related to (1) undergraduate medical students and (2) geriatric medicine or ageing or older adults and (3) curriculum or curriculum topics or learning objectives or competencies or teaching methods or students’ attitudes and (4) published in a scientific journal. No language restrictions were applied. Results We identified 2503 records and assessed the full texts of 393 records for eligibility with 367 records included in the thematic analysis. Six major themes emerged: curriculum, topics, teaching methods, teaching settings, medical students’ skills and medical students’ attitudes. New curricula focussed on minimum Geriatrics Competencies, Geriatric Psychiatry and Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment; vertical integration of Geriatric Medicine into the curriculum has been advocated. Emerging or evolving topics included delirium, pharmacotherapeutics, healthy ageing and health promotion, and Telemedicine. Teaching methods emphasised interprofessional education, senior mentor programmes and intergenerational contact, student journaling and reflective writing, simulation, clinical placements and e-learning. Nursing homes featured among new teaching settings. Communication skills, empathy and professionalism were highlighted as essential skills for interacting with older adults. Conclusion We recommend that future undergraduate medical curricula in Geriatric Medicine should take into account recent developments described in this paper. In addition to including newly emerged topics and advances in existing topics, different teaching settings and methods should also be considered. Employing vertical integration throughout the undergraduate course can usefully supplement learning achieved in a dedicated Geriatric Medicine undergraduate course. Interprofessional education can improve understanding of the roles of other professionals and improve team-working skills. A focus on improving communication skills and empathy should particularly enable better interaction with older patients. Embedding expected levels of Geriatric competencies should ensure that medical students have acquired the skills necessary to effectively treat older patients.

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Does personality predict medical students' attitudes to learning communication skills?

International Journal of Medical Education ◽

10.5116/ijme.51f4.f2de ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 155-161 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Beatriz Molinuevo ◽

Rafael Torrubia

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Students Attitudes

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Pharmacy Students’ Attitudes Towards Learning Communication Skills: The Case Of The United Arab Emirates

American Journal of Health Sciences (AJHS) ◽

10.19030/ajhs.v6i1.9266 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 17-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tharwat M. El-Sakran ◽

Sawsan T. M. El-Sakran

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Medical Students ◽

Patient Care ◽

European Country ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Clinical Pharmacy ◽

Pharmacy Students ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Skills Learning

Effective communication amongst pharmacists, especially clinical pharmacists, physicians, nurses, patients, patients’ families and relatives and health care personnel is essential. Poor communication does not only lead to frustration and lack of respect among professions but also may compromise patient care if important information is misunderstood, ineffectively conveyed, or left out. This research explores clinical pharmacy students’ and clinical pharmacy graduates’ attitudes towards the relevance and importance of learning communication skills in their pharmacy careers in the United Arab Emirates. For the purposes of this study, Rees, Sheard, and Davies’ (2002) Communication Skills Attitudes Scale (CSAS) is used to measure pharmacy students’ and pharmacy graduates’ attitudes towards communication skills learning. Although this measure was originally designed to measure medical students’ attitudes towards communication skills learning in a European country, the results obtained from our study are not dissimilar to those reported by Rees et al. (2002) in their study. The paper concludes with some practical suggestions for pharmacy experts in charge of pharmacy communication courses.

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Effect of adolescent and young adult cancer placements on advanced communication skills.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.38.15_suppl.e24182 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e24182-e24182

Author(s):

Helen Hatcher ◽

Cameron Magrath ◽

Debbie Critoph Hatcher

Keyword(s):

Young Adult ◽

Medical Students ◽

Experiential Learning ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Adolescent And Young Adult ◽

Simulated Patients ◽

Severe Illness ◽

Clinical Communication ◽

Young Adult Cancer

e24182 Background: Communication with adolescent and young adult cancer (AYA) patients and their families can be challenging and requires extensive skills, often developed over time. Medical students can be afraid to encounter such challenges and treating teams can be protective of these vulnerable patients. Therefore, medical students can have little contact and experience communicating with AYA putting them at a disadvantage. We have developed a special study module (SSM) for students with the AYA multi-disciplinary team to promote student awareness of the unique challenges of communicating with AYA patients and provide essential skills for later practice. We present the findings from the first year of this module. Methods: Students at the University of Cambridge were offered a 6-week placement with the AYA cancer service. This involved shadowing members of the multi-professional cancer team and time on the AYA ward to talk with patients and their families in order to practice triadic communication skills. Mid-placement, an experiential learning experience with simulated patients focused on triadic interviews was also offered in line with our local clinical communication skills courses. After the module students were questioned about how they felt this had affected their practice and knowledge of communicating with AYA with cancer. Results: 12 students enrolled for the SSM over the year. All students found the placement widened their communication skills as well as their knowledge of AYA cancers and treatments. 4 main areas of learning were evident. 1.The problems faced by AYA patients as they try to establishing independent adult identities in the midst of severe illness or at the end of life and the implications for the triadic interview. 2. Information sharing during patient denial. 3. The AYA perspective: desire for control and their difficulty of communicating. 4.Challenges of communicating well in emotionally-charged situations. Conclusions: Experiential learning during the placement highlighted techniques for balancing both patient and parental involvement during consultations to maximise efficacy of information gathering. AYA cancer placements provide opportunities to develop advanced communication skills and can be augmented with experiential learning.

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Longitudinal study: Impact of communication skills training and a traineeship on medical students’ attitudes toward communication skills

Patient Education and Counseling ◽

10.1016/j.pec.2020.09.010 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Hélène Givron ◽

Martin Desseilles

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Skills Training ◽

Communication Skills Training ◽

Students Attitudes

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Assessing medical students' attitudes towards learning communication skills – which components of attitudes do we measure?

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/1472-6920-7-4 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Tor Anvik ◽

Tore Gude ◽

Hilde Grimstad ◽

Anders Baerheim ◽

Ole B Fasmer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Attitudes Towards Learning

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Teaching Medical Ethics and Professionalism to Undergraduate Medical Students in an Innovative Way

Journal of Evidence Based Medicine and Healthcare ◽

10.18410/jebmh/2021/220 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (17) ◽

pp. 1139-1145

Author(s):

Ujjwal Bandyopadhyay ◽

Ranjana Bandyopadhyay ◽

Abhay Mudey

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Medical Ethics ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Interpersonal Skills ◽

Real Life ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Learning Methods ◽

Clinical Scenarios ◽

Ethics Teaching ◽

Teaching Learning

BACKGROUND Medical education curriculum in India focuses on the clinical skills of the medical students as cornerstone, but patient and patient party dealings and to work as a member of health care provider team, one requires communication skills, interpersonal skills, management skills, professionalism and ethics. Teaching learning methods (TLM) for imparting module of professionalism and ethics have to be innovative and nonconventional also. In the present study, we tend to assess the effectiveness of exposure to realistic clinical scenarios in pathology department, in teaching medical ethics and professionalism, to undergraduate medical students. METHODS This is an experimental, interventional study that included 200 students. All have attended “just-in-time” lectures on attitude, communication, professionalism and ethics (AETCOM) delivered by faculties. After the 15 days of lecture session, all the students were assessed about their skill of AETCOM by conducting objective structured practical examination (OSPE). In the next phase exposure to realistic clinical scenarios in the Departmental laboratory of Pathology, under the guidance of faculties was also arranged. After the exposure session to real life scenario, all the students were assessed about their skill of AETCOM again by conducting OSPE and their performance was compared with the previous OSPE score. Feedback from the exposed students was also taken in prescribed proforma of 7-point Likert scale. RESULTS Mean pre exposure OSPE score was 18.66 and mean post exposure OSPE score was 27.22. The result shows that the difference was significant (P < 0.001). 38.5 % students were extremely satisfied with the experience of exposure to real life situation in pathology lab and 50 % students were very satisfied with the experience of exposure. In the present study, mean learning gain is 77 %. CONCLUSIONS Professionalism and ethics should neither be introduced in isolation from other medical graduation course contents nor be assessed so. It should be coherently assimilated with the current curriculum. KEYWORDS Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Professionalism, Ethics, Teaching Learning Methods (TLM)

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