Development of an institutional resident curriculum in communication skills

We describe a collaboration between the graduate medical education office and the Henry Ford Health System's Office of Clinical Quality and Safety to create an institution-wide communication skills curriculum pertinent to the institution's safety and patient- and family-centered care initiatives.

A multidisciplinary committee provided oversight for the curriculum design and used sentinel event and other quality and safety data to identify specific target areas. The curriculum consisted of 3 courses: "Informed Consent," "Sharing Bad News," and "Disclosure of Unanticipated Events." Each course included 3 components: a multimedia online module; small group discussions led by the program director that focused on the use of communication scripts; and 2 objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) requiring residents to demonstrate use of the communication scripts. All first-year residents (N  =  145) and faculty (N  =  30) from 20 residency programs participated in this initiative. Evaluation of the residents consisted of a self-assessment; the standardized patients' assessment of the residents' performance; and faculty assessment of resident performance with verbal feedback.

Survey data showed that residents found the courses valuable, with residents identifying communication scripts they would use in clinical settings. Focus groups with faculty highlighted that the resident debriefing sessions provided them with insight into a resident's communication skills early in their training.

Our institutional curriculum was developed in a collaborative manner, and used an evidence-based approach to teach communication skills relevant to institutional safety and quality initiatives. Other institutions 5 wish to adopt our strategy of departmental collaboration and alignment of resident education with institutional initiatives.