Lexicon creation to promote faculty development in medical communication

Most medical educators have little or no training in teaching and assessing medical communication, and they are not consistent in what they teach. The authors set out to reach consensus in our educational community on a lexicon of communication terms for use in teaching physician-patient communication skills to second-year medical students.

An interdisciplinary medical school physician-patient communication committee assembled 23 important terms and agreed on definitions for each term. Thirty core preclinical faculty representing nine medical specialties reviewed the lexicon. Faculty were surveyed about lexicon definitions, barriers to use, and methods of using during educational encounters.

All preclinical faculty members agreed on 19 out of 23 definitions and most respondents agreed on the definitions of the remaining four terms. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they used the terms during their teaching encounters.

Implementing a process to create a shared language around physician-patient communication may help unify and enhance faculty educational efforts. We were able to establish that medical educators can agree on the content of a medical communication lexicon for use with students. The use of defined and consistently used terms in multiple venues may reduce ambiguity, standardize teaching, enhance recognition of communication skills, and promote effective reinforcement and remediation by faculty.

Evidence suggests that most medical educators have little or no training in teaching and assessing medical communication and that they are not consistent in what they teach. Asking a community of faculty to share responsibility for creating a communication lexicon may be an efficient and effective way to educate faculty and unify their educational effort.