Family Meeting Training Curriculum: A Multimedia Approach With Real-Time Experiential Learning for Residents.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Communication Skills Training
• Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Practice

Background:

• Effective communication is crucial in medical practice, especially in intensive care units (ICUs).
• There is a growing need for evidence-based communication curricula for healthcare professionals interacting with families of ICU patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a communication skills curriculum for internal medicine residents in a medical ICU.
• To assess changes in residents' attitudes and self-perceived efficacy in communication skills.

Main Methods:

• A curriculum combining didactic sessions, computer-based simulations, and experiential learning with peer debriefing was implemented.
• Seventeen residents participated, completing pre- and post-curriculum attitude surveys and a self-efficacy survey.

Main Results:

• No significant changes were observed in residents' attitudes toward learning communication skills.
• Resident self-perceived efficacy in several communication domains showed improvement, though not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• The developed curriculum offers valuable interactive training and authentic experiences for improving family meeting facilitation skills.
• Learners responded positively to the curriculum, and the Family Meeting Behavioral Skills (FMBS) tool aided in skill identification.