Importance Of Communication Skills Research Articles

Making it Work for Everyone: Developing Flexible Digital Clinical Communication Modules for Health Disciplines in an Australian Context

Purpose: This paper discusses an innovative multi-disciplinary approach to the development and evaluation of flexible, digital clinical communication learning resources to support students in twelve health disciplines to develop clinical communication skills in preparation for their clinical placements. Methods: A modified Delphi survey was sent to all stakeholders in the Division of Health Sciences to identify the most important communication skills from the list of 61 communication skills identified by Bachmann et al in 2013. Lecturers, clinical educators, clinicians, and students were invited to rate the importance of each skill. Results: A set of digital resources was created for teaching clinical communication to students across all years and disciplines and for use by clinical educators in the Division to prepare students for clinical placement. In addition, an effective methodology for course development, involving broad consultation and multi-disciplinary development teams comprised of clinicians and other educational experts, was developed. The resources were implemented in two disciplines, podiatry and midwifery, and evaluated pre- and post-placement using a qualitative and quantitative method developed with the course coordinators. Conclusions: There are identifiable clinical communication skills which are applicable across numerous health disciplines and as for other learnable skills, teaching can be enhanced by breaking them down into specific, demonstrable elements which students can observe and practice. Using the pedagogy and methods outlined in the paper, students demonstrated increased awareness of the importance of communication in the clinical context, and the capacity to evaluate their performance of those skills.

An Advanced Communication Skills Workshop Using Standardized Patients for Senior Medical Students.

IntroductionMedical students often lack training in advanced communication skills encompassing emotionally fraught situations and those in which an intense emotional response is expected. Such skills are required for clinical situations encountered during residency. We created and evaluated an advanced communication skills workshop (ACSW) using standardized patients for senior medical students. The workshop emphasized communication skills for four scenarios—strong emotion, goals of care, medical error, and palliative care assessment—and utilized formative peer assessment and feedback.MethodsWe created the four ACSW cases with case-specific communication behavior checklists and a common modified Master Interview Rating Scale in a Capstone Course for senior medical students. In groups of three, students rotated through three of four stations. Each student conducted one of the interviews while the other two completed the checklists and provided verbal feedback. We performed one-way analyses of variance on Likert responses and content analysis on open responses on a post-ACSW survey.ResultsNinety-one students completed the ACSW and survey. Students assigned high value to all four ACSW student roles: interviewer, observer, feedback recipient, and feedback provider. Students rated the experience above average to excellent on nearly all survey items. Open-response themes included “liked the opportunity to give or receive peer feedback” (46%) and “found the checklists helpful” (45%).DiscussionFeasible and well received by senior medical students, our ACSW offers an opportunity to practice and observe advanced communication skills and peer feedback. A peer-assisted, formative learning model, the ACSW efficiently addresses a key aspect of residency preparation.

Teaching Oral Communication Skills to Healthcare Personnel Using Communicative Language Teaching Technique

Effective communication among healthcare providers is the key to success in any healthcare system.  The importance of communication skills has long been established in the medical and nursing education.  Although such skills are taught in medical and nursing undergraduate curriculum around the world, but less attention is being paid towards the communication skills of healthcare personnel in Pakistan.  The primary focus of this study is to determine whether the communicative language teaching (CLT) technique had an effect on oral English communication skills of nursing students. This quasi-experimental study was conducted at undergraduate nursing students. Purposive sampling was employed. A pre-test, based on role-plays, was conducted on the baseline status of students followed by a sixteen-hour course.  The same role-play scenarios were given as a post-test. Participants were assessed through rubrics adapted using proficiency descriptor and Cambridge English assessment scale.  The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was employed to compare scores obtained from pre-test and post-test.  The result revealed that the Communication language teaching technique had a significant effect on the oral English communication skills of nursing students.  The study suggested that activities conducted within the classroom should have a greater impact and involve real life communication in order to facilitate learning and proficiency in oral communication skills of students.

Importance of Communication Skills and the Needs of Engineering Students from Rural Areas

Engineering study is considered as one of the major fields of study all over the world. Mostly the web content, the research works of various researchers and their studies, journals article, are written in the English language. So, it is considered to be essential for the second language learners especially for grabbing the opportunities of employment. The students who opt engineering needs to be good in the English language because it is very important for the academic life and it helps them to prosper in their professional life too. If the students fail to have good acquisition in the English language, they are unable to understand the important concepts and ideas conveyed by the writers in English. This present paper tries to highlight the significance of English and how lack of English knowledge can reduce the opportunity of employment. The researcher has given some solutions to overcome the issue.

КОМУНІКАТИВНІ ЗДІБНОСТІ В РОБОТІ ІВЕНТ-МЕНЕДЖЕРА

The purpose of the article is to review the role and importance of communication skills in the professional activities of event managers. To support the researched issue, there are goals to outline the specifics of the postmodern culture of consumption, which updates the interest in the event sphere and trends in the sociocultural practice of today. The research methodology involves the use of an analytical method, which is used to identify the main characteristics that are inherent in the postmodern culture of consumption. The synthesis method is used to highlight the role of communication in the functioning of event management. The predictive method is used to outline the prospects for the development of event management. Event management is an application industry that has a changing nature. The analysis of this applied field is relevant, given the lack of its thorough theoretical elaboration. The scientific novelty is to highlight the communicative nature of the event sphere. Conclusions. To a large extent, the project implementation is associated with constant communication between different participants. They are organizers, managers and customers of cultural services. Their interaction is permanent and manifests itself at different stages of the event organization. Communication is not only a form of interaction between project participants but also a way of translating cultural values. Accordingly, a necessary condition for the work of the event manager is the presence of developed communicative qualities. The development of event management is associated with rapid adaptation to changing sociocultural realities. In the face of the challenges facing humanity, new forms of interaction are emerging, involving technical means and the spread of online communication. The role of the communicative principle is emphasized, which is not only a form of interaction but also a fundamental mode of culture. Event managers’ work is directly involved in communication, so it is advisable to master the basics of public speaking, which will contribute to successful professional activity.

Effects of time delay and requiring echoics on answering questions about visual stimuli

An important communication skill for children with autism is answering multiple questions about visual stimuli (e.g., "What is it?" "What color is it?"). We targeted answering "What number?" and "What shape?" in the presence of numbers inside shapes, and "What is it?" and "What color?" in the presence of colored objects (e.g., a yellow cat) with 3 preschoolers with autism. In addition to a progressive time delay, we required the participants to answer the questions by echoing a keyword from the questions. For example, we taught them to answer, "What color?" with "color blue." In the context of a multiple-probe design across behaviors within a multiple-probe design across participants, the procedure was effective in increasing trained responses and producing within- and across-category generalization. The echoic may have facilitated the responses by increasing the salience of the auditory stimuli and strengthening intraverbals within autoclitic frames.

‘It clarified a lot’: GP trainees as peer role players in a formative Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA)

ABSTRACT Introduction The MRCGP Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) is a high stakes examination which a significant proportion of candidates fail on first sitting. To address this, deaneries have introduced candidate preparation, such as formative CSAs (f-CSA). One way to maximise the gains from a f-CSA is to use GP trainees as peer-role players (VRPs) instead of professional actors. Our aim was to explore trainee experiences of, and educational gains from, the VRP role. Method This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore 15 VRPs’ perceptions of peer roleplay. Questions were generated from the literature and from informal discussions with f-CSA organisers. Analysis was inductive and thematic. Results Analysis identified three main themes. Role play gave participants insight into the exam in terms of what to expect and how to approach the exam. They commented on learning the importance of communication skills and acknowledging the patient’s perspective. Finally, there were gains in terms of professional development, particularly in terms of observing good feedback. Discussion GP trainees who role played patients in a formative CSA reported increased confidence and educational gains from their experience. Whether these perceived gains will be transferred to their own CSA performance later in training remains to be seen.

Preparing Students for Difficult Conversations with Patients and Families

BackgroundNursing and other health care professionals are often required to conduct difficult conversations with patients and their families. Simulation in nursing education combined with the utilization of standardized patients (SPs) provides realistic situations for students to practice those important communication skills. MethodA simulation-based experience (SBE) for pediatric content was developed for nursing students to become more proficient in the role of teaching parents about immunizations and to increase student confidence when engaging families who express vaccine hesitancy (the difficult conversation). ResultsNinety-five percent of students strongly agreed their confidence in communication was enhanced. ConclusionThe portrayal of parents by SPs was an effective strategy to increase student confidence in conducting difficult conversations with patients before they are faced with a real-life situation.

Socioeconomic Status and Child Developmental Delay: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Children with developmental delays are at higher risk of poor health, and lower educational attainment and wellbeing than the normal ones. Objectives: As previous studies had contradictory results regarding the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and child development, the current study aimed at determining this association at the age of 60 months. Methods: The current prospective cohort study was conducted in Shiraz, Iran, from summer 2011 to the end of 2016. The study was conducted on 640 mothers registered in the Fars Birth Cohort study. A checklist comprised of social and economic parts was employed. The children’s communication development was also assessed using the ages and stages questionnaire for 60-month-old children. In addition, SES was determined using 25 variables. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 19.0 and partitioning around medoid (PAM) clustering in R 3.5.0 software; P value < 0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Results: The majority of the subjects (79.1%) were categorized as the moderate level of SES; 106 (16.56%) children had a delay in at least one developmental domain. The current study results showed that the education level of parents and the occupational status of mothers were significantly associated with delayed communication skills in children (P < 0.05). Delay in communication skills was significantly more prevalent among children whose parents had a low education level (P < 0.05). After controlling other confounders, the relative risk of delay in communication skills was 3.7 times higher among children in the moderate level of SES and almost 10 times higher among the ones in the low level of SES. Conclusions: Children brought up in families with low SES had the highest level of delay in communication skills, followed by the ones in families with moderate SES. Considering the importance of communication skills in children socialization, more attention should be paid to SES of the families with preschool kids. It seems quite reasonable if health policymakers put more emphasis on the communication skills of preschool children.

Disclosing HIV-Positive Status: What Do Questions Have to Do with It?

This article discussed the need to ask questions among people living with HIV to facilitate disclosure. This is because disclosure of a HIV-positive status is an important tool for prevention of HIV and early treatment, many people who know their status do not disclose to their spouse or sexual partners. Disclosure would not only protect the spouse from risk of infection and if already infected be able to access treatment, support and care but also promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy. The paper looked at questioning as an important communication skill that can facilitate disclosure. This paper is based on a larger qualitative study that investigated the factors influencing disclosure of HIV-positive status to spouses among people living with HIV in Kirinyaga County in Kenya. Data was collected using semistructured In-Depth Interviews. The paper argued that questions play a crucial role in disclosure of a HIV-positive status in accessing information which would otherwise be unavailable about the HIV-positive status of their spouses and suggests incorporation of communication skills on questioning and disclosure at the comprehensive care Centre services.
 Key Words: HIV disclosure, person living with HIV, questioning, spouses, psychological safety

Rafting Together with Lipids ‐ Team Teaching & Active Learning

Effective oral and written communication skills are key assets for success in and outside of academia. However, students completing undergraduate degrees are often not equipped with these skills. Among the challenges that contribute to this problem is the lack of interest by teachers to conduct in‐class activities that provide students the opportunities to nurture these skills. It can be very time consuming for a single instructor to construct and implement multiple active learning activities, designed to encourage and give students the chance to develop these important communication skills. Additionally, the traditional lecture format hinders development of higher Bloom’s Taxonomy skills and limits opportunities for engagement.In order to overcome this problem, we joined forces with Biochemistry professor, Vanina Zaremberg at the University of Calgary to execute active learning techniques in a fourth year Lipid Biochemistry course. Having multiple instructors allowed us to implement three in‐class activities: construction of concept maps, debate, and guided writing assignment, thoughtfully designed to give students the opportunity to learn and utilize communication and writing skills. Anonymous surveys were conducted following completion of these activities, giving us valuable feedback. The first activity was centered around building concept maps and was designed to tackle the challenge of the varying background knowledge of the students at the beginning of the semester. In short, students drew a concept map on the very first and last day of classes, which not only allowed the instructors to see what information they were bringing into the course, but also allowed the students to connect and organize their knowledge in a thoughtful manner. Rich discussion among instructors on these maps helped to develop lesson plans and outline lesson outcomes. The concept maps conceived on the last day of classes gave an explicit visual of what the students learned throughout the semester. The second activity, the in‐class debate on lipid rafts, allowed students to openly discuss and learn about a key controversial topic in Lipid Biochemistry in a unique way and without the pressure of a typical quiz or assignment. Surprisingly for the instructors, the debate took up the entire 75‐minute lecture. One hundred percent of the responses answered that the debate was an effective way to learn about the topic and students enjoyed learning from their peers. Finally, a guided writing assignment was executed, as it has been reported that students lack experience critiquing published work or a peer’s writing. The writing assignment gave students the opportunity to exercise and develop communication and writing skills while participating in a guided peer‐review process. 79% of the class reported that this was the first time they did a peer‐review exercise, even though most were in their final semester of their undergraduate degree.Overall, the feedback gathered from the survey indicated that students were involved, more confident in the topics, and enjoyed these activities more than typical lectures, suggesting that team teaching enhances student experience and engagement.

Factors associated with Empathy in Patients with Schizophrenia in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers

Purpose: Empathy is the most important communication skill, and patients with schizophrenia in recovery should be taught empathy for vocational rehabilitation and social life. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting empathy, as well as motivation-pleasure and social anhedonia, in patients with schizophrenia in psychiatric rehabilitation. Methods: This study followed a descriptive design using a cross-sectional survey to assess the empathy, social anhedonia, and motivation-pleasure levels of patients with schizophrenia. The participants were 118 patients with schizophrenia from five mental health rehabilitation centers in South Korea. Results: The results of this study show a high correlation among empathy, motivation-pleasure, and social anhedonia. The variables affecting empathy were age, motivation-pleasure, and social anhedonia, and the explanatory power of the variables was 32.6%. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that improving communication skills and negative symptoms will contribute positively to patients’ social lives and vocational rehabilitation.

Smiling and use of first-name by a healthcare receptionist robot: Effects on user perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours

AbstractRobots are now starting to be developed and used as receptionists in health applications. In this regard, it is important that robots’ behavioural skills are developed and researched so that people have appropriate and comfortable interactions. Smiling and use of first name are two more important social communication skills used during human interactions. While smiling and use of first name are often employed by robots in human interactions, the effect of these behaviours on perceptions of receptionist robots has not yet been experimentally investigated. This study explored the effects of robot smiling and robot use of the participant’s first name on perceptions of robot friendliness, mind, and personality, as well as attitudes and smiling behaviour. Forty participants interacted with a medical receptionist robot four times, in a two by two repeated measures design. Both smiling and use of first name had significant positive effects on participants’ perceptions of robot personality. Robot smiling also showed significant effects on participants’ overall attitudes towards robots, ratings of robot friendliness, and perceptions of the robot’s mind, and increased the frequency of participants’ own smiling. There were no significant interaction effects. Robot smiling in particular can enhance user perceptions of robots and increase reciprocal smiling.

First Experimental Study in Turkey Teaches Veterinary Students How to Break Bad News.

The importance of communication skills in veterinary medicine has been increasing for a long time. The aim of this article is to investigate how theoretical training, role-playing, and standardized/simulated client (SC) methods improve senior (fifth-year) veterinary students' skills in breaking bad news. The study was carried out with 67 volunteer senior students. The research was designed from a pre-test and post-test control group pattern. All students encountered the SC. After pre-tests, theoretical training was given to Experimental Group A (EGA) and Experimental Group B (EGB). Then, only the students in EGA role-played together. Each student completed a checklist consisting of 10 basic items after pre-tests and post-tests. After post-tests, focus group interviews with open-ended questions were conducted. In the pairwise comparisons, EGA's and EGB's adjusted post-test mean scores were significantly higher than the control group's (p < .001). EGA's and EGB's post-test scores were found to be significantly higher than their pre-test scores. Women's empathy and eye contact scores were found to be statistically higher than men's scores. This study is the first of its kind in Turkey to use SCs and peer-to-peer learning with role-play simulations in training students about breaking bad news in veterinary medicine. These findings show that theoretical training and role-playing has an impact on senior veterinary students' skills in breaking bad news.

의사소통 기술의 중요도에 대한 유아교사의 자기 인식

의사소통 기술의 중요도에 대한 유아교사의 자기 인식

The Role of Empathy in Health and Social Care Professionals.

The current article is an integrative and analytical literature review on the concept and meaning of empathy in health and social care professionals. Empathy, i.e., the ability to understand the personal experience of the patient without bonding with them, constitutes an important communication skill for a health professional, one that includes three dimensions: the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. It has been proven that health professionals with high levels of empathy operate more efficiently as to the fulfillment of their role in eliciting therapeutic change. The empathetic professional comprehends the needs of the health care users, as the latter feel safe to express the thoughts and problems that concern them. Although the importance of empathy is undeniable, a significantly high percentage of health professionals seem to find it difficult to adopt a model of empathetic communication in their everyday practice. Some of the factors that negatively influence the development of empathy are the high number of patients that professionals have to manage, the lack of adequate time, the focus on therapy within the existing academic culture, but also the lack of education in empathy. Developing empathetic skills should not only be the underlying objective in the teaching process of health and social care undergraduate students, but also the subject of the lifelong and continuous education of professionals.

Physiotherapy Student's Perceptions of the Ideal Clinical Educator

Background The skills and qualities of the clinical educator are clearly embedded within the literature. The interactions between the educator and student throughout the placement journey are an important component of the student’s experience. Although clinical educator roles and interactions with students have been studied in physiotherapy, determining the perceived ideal clinical educator through the lens of the student remained under analysed. The aim of this study was to explore physiotherapy student’s perceptions of the ideal clinical educator. Method The study involved 16 physiotherapy final year students using two focus groups. An inductive approach using thematic analysis was employed to gain data rich cases. Results The results revealed 3 main themes, which were educator role, placement experiences and ideal clinical educator. The importance of communication skills, knowledge and being approachable were central to the students perceived ideal clinical educator. Paradoxically, it is not a mandatory requirement for physiotherapists to undertake practice education training, therefore the study revealed that pedagogical practices were not being employed consistently such as structured feedback and methods of assessment. Discussion This study highlighted the importance of providing clinical educators with the relevant pedagogical theory to ensure that the approach in which students are mentored through their placements are more consistent. Equipping clinical educators with the underlying principles of teaching and learning strategies may improve student self-efficacy, rapport and the learning experience. Conclusion Future research examining the link universities have with their local placement providers may help bridge the knowledge gaps of physiotherapists who are not formally trained in practice education as opposed to having to attend out of work conventional practice educator courses. In addition curriculum consideration in relation to how students are prepared for placements e.g. resilience strategies may help reduce negative learning experiences

Communication au service de l'autodétermination et de la participation citoyenne

As a result of the revolutionary moves of recent decades that have challenged special education, more and more people with disabilities are expected to take control of their own lives and to play an active role in the lif e of the community. These behaviours involve complex and multiple skills, such as, for example, the ability to express oneself clearly, to argue one's opinions, to listen and to question oneself, to manage differences of opinion. These are important communication skills that require special educational attention, especially when the learner is confronted with cognitive and/or communication difficulties. This article presents research with very promising results that provide suggestions on how this work can be best supported on a daily basis.

Methodological Aspects of the Use of Software in the Teaching of Engineering Disciplines: Tasks, Problems and Prospects

The main directions of improving training that can be achieved as part of the introduction of new software in the teaching of engineering disciplines are considered. The necessity of ensuring the continuity of training within the framework of a unified concept of using software tools is noted. The analysis of needs in the formation of new competencies based on the results of a survey of graduate students of BMSTU, and the views of employers, which showed the closeness of the representations of students, teachers and employers. It is noted that the developed software application technologies should guarantee their inextricable link. New approaches to the teaching of engineering disciplines based on computer modeling, which are used in world practice, are considered. Trends in the application of modeling technologies, including the use of integrated software products, are noted. The main modern trends are active training and teamwork, group training. These computer technologies have taken the project approach to learning to a new stage. New software products allow not only the formation of special competencies, but also provide the opportunity to acquire important communication skills. New opportunities for student motivation are opening up. Access to an open electronic educational environment, including open packages of applied engineering design programs allows you to create self-education skills, without which it is impossible for an engineer to work in rapidly changing conditions. The active role of the teacher in effective and competent self-education is noted.

Attitude toward Dental Health and Treatment in Patients with Medical and Non-Medical Education

The article discusses the differences in attitudes towards dental health among persons with and without medical education. The authors described the criteria for assessing the quality of dental care, the preferred quality of a dentist and causes dental phobia in the adult population, as well as highlighted ways to improve compliance and reduce fear and anxiety before visiting the dentist. A total of 88 apparently healthy respondents who do not pass dental treatment at the time of the study (52 women and 36 men) took part in the study (the average age is 32 ± 12.5 years). The following techniques were used: (1) the survey Attitude to Health by R.A. Berezovskaya for assessing the respondents’ attitude to their own health (emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and valuemotivational scales); (2) the Life Quality Scale by N.E. Vodopianova for the assessment of the general life quality index and the self-assessment of the respondents life quality in such categories as: work, personal achievements, health, communication with relatives, support, optimism, tension, self-control, negative emotions; (3) the questionnaire Attitude to dental health developed for research at the Department of General and Clinical Psychology of Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University. Key research findings is: (1) most patients prefer an empathic-non-prescriptive type of dentist; (2) for most patients are important professional and communication skills of the dentist; (3) there are differences in attitudes towards dental health in patients with and without medical education.