Interviewing skills: a comprehensive approach to teaching and evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Professions Training
• Communication Skills Assessment

Background:

• Objective evaluation methods for health professional interviewing skills are developing.
• Standardized interviews with objective rating systems are emerging.
• Assessing practical interviewing skills is crucial for effective patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a practice-oriented interviewing course for health professional students.
• To measure improvements in data gathering and process skills post-course.
• To compare skill acquisition between students who completed the course and those who did not.

Main Methods:

• Utilized standardized interviews with a formal objective rating system.
• Assessed health professional students in the Child Health Associate Program.
• Measured data gathered and process skills used during interviews.

Main Results:

• Students completing the course gathered 76% of available data, compared to 47% for the control group.
• Trained students used 86% of defined process skills, versus 62% for the control group.
• Significant improvement in interviewing skills was observed post-course.

Conclusions:

• The practice-oriented interviewing course significantly enhances health professional students' data gathering and communication skills.
• Objective rating systems provide reliable metrics for evaluating interviewing proficiency.
• Standardized interview evaluations are effective tools for medical education assessment.