Development of a Patient-Doctor Communication Skills Model for Medical Students

Lee, Young Hee; Lee, Young Mee

Abstract

PURPOSE
Communication is a core clinical skill that can be taught and learned. The authors intended to develop a patient-doctor communication model for teaching and assessing undergraduate medical students in Korea.
METHODS
To develop a model, literature reviews and an iterative process of discussion between faculty members of a communication skills course for second year medical students were conducted. The authors extracted common communication skill competencies by comparing the Kalamazoo Consensus Statement, SEGUE framework communication skills, the Calgary Cambridge Observation Guides, and previous communication skills lists that have been used by the authors. The content validity, with regard to clinical importance and feasibility, was surveyed by both faculty physicians and students.
RESULTS
The first version of the model consisted of 36 items under 7 categories: initiating the session (8 items), building a relationship (6), gathering information (8), understanding a patient's perspectives (4), sharing information (4), reaching an agreement (3), and closing the session (3). It was used as a guide for both students and teachers in an actual communication skills course. At the end of the course, student performance was assessed using two 7-minute standardized patient interviews with a 34-item checklist. This assessment tool was modified from the first version of the model to reflect the case specificity of the scenarios. A patient-doctor communication model, which can be taught to those with limited patient care experience, was finally developed.
CONCLUSION
We recommended a patient-doctor communication skills model that can be used for teaching and evaluating preclinical and clinical students. Further studies are needed to verify its validity and reliability.