Teaching Communication Skills on the Surgery Clerkship

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Communication Skills Development

Background:

• Physician communication skills are crucial for patient outcomes but often neglected post-pre-clinical years.
• A controlled trial indicated a larger curriculum revision improved students' communication competence.
• This study focuses on a specific communication skills curriculum within the Surgery Clerkship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a new communication skills curriculum for third-year medical students during their Surgery Clerkship.
• To assess the educational effectiveness and student satisfaction with the new curriculum.
• To determine the suitability of surgeons in teaching critical communication skills.

Main Methods:

• Three 2-hour workshops were conducted, focusing on patient education, shared decision-making, and delivering bad news.
• Sessions included lectures, video critiques, group discussions, and standardized patient (SP) exercises with feedback.
• Over 25 surgery faculty were trained to facilitate these sessions, which were evaluated through end-of-clerkship surveys.

Main Results:

• 120 out of 160 (76%) students completed the survey.
• 55% of students reported improvements in communication skills and handling specific surgical communication challenges.
• Students expressed satisfaction with the curriculum's content and teaching quality.

Conclusions:

• Communication skills training can be successfully integrated into the Surgery Clerkship.
• Surgeons are well-positioned to teach essential communication skills like patient education, informed consent, and delivering bad news.
• Structured, case-based sessions are well-received by students and enhance self-assessed skills, with faculty development offering broader departmental benefits.