Year GEP 1 : Clinical Communication Skills
- Prof Annie Cushing
- a.m.cushing@qmul.ac.uk
Introduction
This course marks the beginning of the process of developing professional communication skills which will continue throughout your studies and the rest of your professional life.
You will be meeting and learning from patients early in the course in hospital, primary care and community settings. Medical students’ role in relation to patients is as a learner, although you may on occasions be able to assist with appropriate supervision.
Our aim is to help you build upon your existing communication skills so as to develop professional communication that will enable you to have relationships and interactions that are respectful, effective and satisfying for patients and yourselves.
Moreover, in understanding what constitutes good communication in the context of the therapeutic relationship we hope you will be more aware and better able to evaluate the communication practices that you see in clinical settings, so that you can consciously develop good practice for yourselves.
Sessions
Lecture: Introduction to Communication Skills
- Discuss the case for improving communication in healthcare.
- Describe what is meant by patient-centred communication.
- Explain the importance of exploring the consequences of ill health on patients’ lives, their means of coping, their health beliefs and their experiences and expectations of health services.
- Describe a range of models of communication which provide a framework for promoting good communication
- Appreciate the purpose and structure of a medical history.
- Appreciate the importance of reflection and development of self-awareness in relation to learning communication skills.
SDL: E-Learning Module: Introduction to Effective Clinical Communication
Lecture: Communication with People with Hearing Impairment
- Explain the Disability Discrimination Act and its purpose.
- Describe the prevalence and pattern of hearing impairment in the population
- Describe methods of working with hard of hearing people including lip reading, hearing aids and signing
- Describe what is meant by deaf culture and the implications of this for communicating with people who have a hearing impairment.
- Describe the principles of British Sign Language and be understood using basic signs.
- Identify ways of enhancing communication with people who have a hearing impairment.
Lecture: Communication with People with Visual Impairment
- Explain the Disability Discrimination Act and its purpose.
- Describe the prevalence and pattern of vision impairment in the population.
- Describe how visual impairment affects blind and partially sighted people.
- Offer practical hands on assistance to individual blind and partially sighted people in the (RNIB) recommended manner.
- Identify ways of enhancing communication with people who have a hearing or vision impairment.
- Know causes of global blindness.
- Know causes of adult blindness in the UK.
- Know causes of childhood blindness in the UK.
- Know of strategies for improving function with cerebral visual impairment.
Lecture: Communication with People who have a Speech and Language Impairment
Workshop 2: Communication - Working with Health Beliefs and Culture
- To increase awareness of relevant issues related to culture and health beliefs.
- To identify the potential effects of culture, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, socio-economic status and cultural environment on communication in healthcare settings.
- To explore the skills of acknowledging cultural norms in a respectful manner.
- To develop understanding of the role of advocates and interpreters.
- To observe examples of best practice.
- To consider how variation in social relations and health beliefs can affect communication in health care settings.
- To consider how linguistic and politeness conventions can aid or interfere with communication.
SDL : E-learning module - Initiating the Consultation
- Know why and how to make first impressions
- Know why initiating the consultation is important
- Know the consequences of not doing the initiating well
- Know how to prepare for the consultation
- Be able to establish initial rapport
- Be able to identify the reasons why patient seeks a consultation
- Know the skills required to address both the patient and the doctors agenda
SDL : E-learning module - Information Gathering and History Taking
SDL : E-learning module - Explanation and Planning
- know how to provide explanation to patient which aids recall, understanding, satisfaction, concordance
- Know how to set the scene
- Be able to provide correct type and amount of information
- Be able to aid patient recall and understanding
- Be able to achieve a shared understanding, incorporating the patient's illness framework
- Be able to plan forward and achieve shared decision-making
SDL : E-learning module - Building the Relationship
SDL : E-learning module - Structuring the Consultation
SDL : E-learning module - Closing the Consultation
- Ensure appropriate point of closure
- include forward planning in closing consultation
- Check patient's (and your) understanding
- Appraise how the consultation has gone
- Revisit concerns
- Revisit decision and make arrangements
- Establish consultation outcomes
- Attend to your relationship with the patient
- Check how the patient is feeling
- Set the scene for the next visit
Workshop 1: Patient-centred Communication
- Identify appropriate professional behaviour in relation to interactions with patients and colleagues.
- Identify barriers and enablers to effective communication and recognise the responsibility that health care professionals have in overcoming barriers.
- Demonstrate an awareness of the patient’s/relatives concerns and how these might be presented.
- Recognise and respond to patient’s cues.
- Negotiate patients’ consent to help in students’ learning.
- Demonstrate skills in introduction, initiation of the history and exploration of the patient’s problem (medical and psychosocial).
- Demonstrate respect and empathy and to establish rapport using verbal and non-verbal skills.
- Manage professional boundaries appropriately. (To deal with a patient’s questions up to the level of their competence, respond appropriately to a patient’s complaint and requests).
- Give and receive feedback that is useful for learning.
