For years, medical school has focused on teaching students what they need to care for patients and properly treat them. The human side of medicine has rarely been discussed inside a classroom or clinical setting, even though it makes a huge difference in how patients feel about the care and treatment they receive. With an emphasis starting to be placed on people in various healthcare settings, it is important as a faculty member to know teach communication skills in medical school.
Instructions
1. Discuss the importance of communication with patients. The first step in helping future doctors understand why communication skills are so vital. Many see health problems and treatments as routine since they deal with them each and every day. Few take the time to consider the fear and anxiety the patient is going through as they navigate this new health problem or illness they have.
2. Allow students to role play with each other. Students often think they have good communication skills until they are put to the test. Create scenarios in which one student plays the patient and another plays the doctor. Have them role-play the exchange that might occur between them.
3. Provide instructor feedback on communication skills role play. The instructor and others observing the role play will often pick up on poor communication skills or habits. By providing appropriate, constructive feedback to the student as an instructor you can help them identify their weak points and work to overcome them.
4. Use critiques and small group discussions to allow for peer feedback. One of the best ways to make medical students aware of their communication skills is to put them into small groups and allow for their peers to offer their thoughts and reflections. Some students aren't receptive to what an instructor says they need to change, but they are more apt to change when their peers tell them they are doing something wrong.
5. Tape the student practicing communication skills and replay it for them. Often students need to be able to see what they are doing wrong in order to fix it. By using a video camera to record students role playing or discussing a health problem with an actual patient, you can open the student up to what they are doing right and what they can change to better their communication.
6. Practice using patient simulators. One of the great advances in medical technology is patient simulators. They offer medical students the opportunity to practice on a life-like patient which can be programmed to say certain phrases. This is a great teaching tool for students that need to work on breaking down complex medical terms and jargon since the simulator can be programmed to repeat that they do not understand what the doctor is saying.
7. Observe the student and their communication skills during their clinicals. As the student progresses through medical school and begins clinicals, instructors have the opportunity to observe the students use the communication skills they learned in the classroom as they are put to work with real patients and provide feedback.
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