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The barriers to effective communication also include cultural barriers, semantic barriers, gender barriers, and time constraints.
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Student-patient communication during physical examination.

Jennifer Cleland1, Anne de la Croix, Philip Cotton

  • 1Division of Medical and Dental Education, University of Aberdeen, UK. jen.cleland@abdn.ac.uk

The Clinical Teacher
|March 14, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Medical students use specific communication techniques during physical exams, including minimizing language and emphasizing collaboration. Understanding these patterns is key to developing effective communication training for future doctors.

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Area of Science:

  • Medical Education
  • Patient-Physician Communication
  • Clinical Skills Training

Background:

  • Communication during physical examinations is an understudied area in medical education.
  • There is a lack of evidence-based guidance on effective communication strategies for physical examinations and how to teach them.
  • This study explores communication practices of medical students during physical examinations without formal instruction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the communication methods employed by senior medical students during physical examinations.
  • To identify linguistic patterns used by students in the absence of specific communication training for this context.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded 15 senior UK medical students during physical examinations with real patients in general practice.
  • Analyzed transcriptions of these interactions to identify linguistic functions and categorize student utterances.

Main Results:

  • Student utterances were categorized into: minimizing language, positive evaluative language, repeating the patient, and stating intentions/explanations/requesting consent.
  • Students frequently used inclusive language ('we' vs. 'you') to foster a sense of togetherness.
  • Linguistic hedges were employed to soften the impact of their utterances.

Conclusions:

  • Senior medical students exhibit limited verbal communication during physical examinations.
  • The communication patterns observed align with those found in broader doctor-patient interactions.
  • Identifying current student communication is the foundational step for developing targeted teaching strategies for clinical communication skills.