The East Anglia Deanery Communication Skills Teaching Project-six years on

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Communication Skills Training
• General Practice Training

Background:

• Effective communication is crucial for general practitioners (GPs) in patient consultations.
• A need existed for a scalable and sustainable model to deliver communication skills training to GPs.
• Previous training initiatives lacked a cascading mechanism for widespread adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the Cascade Communication Skills Teaching Project, a facilitator training program.
• To evaluate the educational and organizational effectiveness of this cascading model.
• To explore the expansion of the program into diverse medical teaching settings.

Main Methods:

• Established a training program for district-based communication skills facilitators.
• Facilitators were trained to cascade communication skills teaching to GPs.
• The program's reach was extended to medical students, specialists, and multi-disciplinary teams.

Main Results:

• The project successfully trained facilitators capable of disseminating communication skills education.
• The cascading model enabled widespread training delivery within the East Anglia Deanery.
• The program demonstrated adaptability and expansion into various medical education contexts.

Conclusions:

• The Cascade Communication Skills Teaching Project provides an effective model for disseminating communication skills training.
• Facilitator training is a viable strategy for sustainable and widespread medical education.
• The project's success supports its application across different levels of medical training and professional development.