Evaluation of Veterinary Students’ Communication Skills with a Service Dog Handler in a Simulated Client Scenario

Effective communication skills serve as a key component of excellent veterinary care and provide a foundation for building trusting relationships with clients. While many veterinary clients value their pets for companionship, the focus of other relationships may be based on a partnership between the human and animal, as is the case with the handlers of service dogs. As the use of service dogs in the US continues to grow, it is important that veterinary professionals are educated on how best to meet the unique needs of service dogs and their handlers. This article evaluates the interactions of veterinary students with a service dog handler in a simulated client scenario. Ten videotaped interactions were coded to assess third-year students’ communication skills (nonverbal communication, open-ended questions, reflective listening, and empathy), and their ability to discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic options for a dog with suspected intervertebral disk disease. Results showed that the majority of students demonstrated competence in the use of nonverbal communication skills and in discussing the biomedical aspects of the disease. Students require development in the use of open-ended questions, reflective listening statements, and expression of empathy, as well as building client rapport and discussing the psychosocial aspect of the disease on the client and patient. These findings suggest that veterinary students may benefit from targeted instruction on “best practices” in caring for service dogs and their handlers, including greater attention to the psychosocial aspects of a disease, and from additional communication practice using standardized clients with service dogs.

Usability and consistency in findings of the work support needs assessment tool

BACKGROUND: Structured work support needs assessment could facilitate professionals and increase assessment consistency. OBJECTIVES: Evaluating usability of the Work Support Needs Assessment Tool and test if professionals’ (labour experts, coaches) findings become more consistent after a tool training. The tool includes a 21 item checklist for assessing work support needs of people with disabilities. METHODS: Usability was explored through 28 interviews with professionals. Consistency was evaluated in an experimental pre-post study design, in which thirty-nine other professionals assessed work support needs of standardized clients before and after a protocolized training. Quantitative content analysis was conducted. Consistency of findings between professionals covered three categories: type (client-focused coaching), focus (topics to be addressed) and duration of support. An increase in consistency was defined as a decrease in the total number of different sub-categories of findings in each category. RESULTS: Nineteen professionals indicated that the tool was useful, as they gained relevant information and insights. Regarding consistency, the number of findings differed pre- and post-training for type of support (8 vs 9) and focus of support (18 vs 15 and 18 vs 17). CONCLUSIONS: Participants had positive experiences with the tool. Increased consistency in findings of professionals after the training was not demonstrated with the current study design.

Providing objective feedback in supervision in motivational interviewing: results from a randomized controlled trial

Background:The effects of the use of objective feedback in supervision on the supervisory relationship and skill acquisition is unknown.Aims:The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of two different types of objective feedback provided during supervision in motivational interviewing (MI) on: (a) the supervisory relationship, including potential feelings of discomfort/distress, provoked by the supervision sessions, and (b) the supervisees’ skill acquisition.Method:Data were obtained from a MI dissemination study conducted in five county councils across five county councils across Sweden. All 98 practitioners recorded sessions with standardized clients and were randomized to either systematic feedback based on only the behavioral component of a feedback protocol, or systematic feedback based on the entire protocol.Results:The two different ways to provide objective feedback did not negatively affect the supervisory relationship, or provoke discomfort/distress among the supervisees, and the group that received the behavioural component of the feedback protocol performed better on only two of the seven skill measures.Conclusions:Objective feedback does not seem to negatively affect either the supervisor–supervisee working alliance or the supervisees’ supervision experience. The observed differences in MI skill acquisition were small, and constructive replications are needed to ascertain the mode and complexity of feedback that optimizes practitioners’ learning, while minimizing the sense of discomfort and distress.

The Innovative Integration of SBIRT raining Using Standardized Clients and Computer Simulation in Social Work Education

Through a Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) grant from NORC and the Conrad Hilton Foundation, the Department of Social Work at California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U) integrated SBIRT throughout the social work curriculum. A combination of computer simulation and standardized clients was developed to evaluate students’ skills in assessing for substance misuse and engaging with clients. Along with the development of students’ skills with assessment, motivational interviewing and active listening were an unintended outcome of student activism. Students, drawing from their new knowledge, training, and experiences, organized advocacy events on campus to promote awareness of the opioid epidemic impact on surrounding rural communities.

A Medical/Legal Teaching and Assessment Collaboration on Domestic Violence: Assessment Using Standardized Patients/Standardized Clients

<p>Assessment of skills is an important, emerging topic in law school education. Two recent and influential books, Educating Lawyers published by the Carnegie Foundation and Best Practices in Legal Education, published by the Clinical Legal Education Association have both suggested dramatic reform of legal education. Among other reforms, these studies urge law schools to use “outcome-based” assessments, i.e., using learning objectives and assessing knowledge and skills in standardized situations based on specific criteria, rather than simply comparing students’ performances to each other. </p>