Teaching Third Year Medical Students Communication and Empathy Skills: Be Explicit and Use Examples

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Physician communication and interpersonal skills (CIS) are increasingly recognized as important to patient care and patient satisfaction. To enhance our medical students' competence in this area, a 2-hour workshop was developed. METHODS: Over two consecutive days, third year medical students participated in a 2 hours workshop on interpersonal and communication skills (40-minute lecture, 80-minute standardized patient [SP] encounters). Lecture content was identical during the 2 days with the exception of two slides relating to empathy: on day 1, the empathy queries and statements were described generally with one example of each, whereas on day 2, five examples of specific questions and statements of empathy were provided. After the lecture, participants were directed to predetermined groups of four students to one SP. Each student was assigned a different patient scenario, and allowed 10 minutes to elicit a history. Standardized CIS assessment forms were filled out by the student interviewer (self-assessment), the other students in the group (peer assessment), and the SP. feedback was given after each students' encounter with the SP within their group. RESULTS: A total of 237 students consented to participate in the study. The demographics for day 1 and day 2 students were similar. Day 2 students scored better on the standardized patient CIS average cumulative scores (32.0±5.4 versus 28.3±6.2, P<.001), pass rate (78.0% versus 46.5%, P<.001), and proportion attaining exemplary status (27.6% versus 9.6%, P<.01). There were no differences in mean SP rated CIS scores within the day 1 subgroups or day 2 subgroups. DISCUSSION: Explicit and multiple examples of empathy queries and statements may be a key curricular component for teaching medical students and leads to improved communication and empathy scores.