Teaching Effective Informed Consent Communication Skills in the Virtual Surgical Clerkship.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Clerkship Innovation
• Virtual Learning Environments

Background:

• COVID-19 pandemic necessitated virtual adaptations in undergraduate medical education.
• Teaching clinical competencies, like patient communication, posed challenges in virtual settings.
• A novel informed consent activity module was implemented in a surgery clerkship to address these challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a virtual informed consent activity on medical students' self-efficacy.
• To evaluate students' perceived competence in key domains of informed consent communication.
• To determine the feasibility and reception of virtual communication skills training.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective survey study was conducted with medical students participating in a virtual surgery clerkship.
• The survey evaluated perceived competence in 4 domains: identifying elements, describing challenges, applying the New Mexico Clinical Communication Scale (NMCCS), and documenting informed consent.
• Standardized patients and faculty were utilized in the virtual module.

Main Results:

• 38% of students (34/90) participated in the survey.
• Participants reported improved self-efficacy in all 4 surveyed domains of informed consent communication (p < 0.01).
• Most students rated their post-module competence as satisfactory or above, viewing the virtual experience positively but noting differences from in-person encounters.

Conclusions:

• A virtual communication skills module using standardized patients effectively enhanced medical students' self-efficacy in obtaining informed consent.
• This virtual module is a viable and beneficial component for current and future virtual or mixed-modality medical curricula.
• The findings support the integration of such innovative virtual tools to maintain robust clinical skills training.