Introducing Mass Communications Strategies to Medical Students: A Novel Short Session for Fourth-Year Students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Communication
• Public Health

Background:

• The World Health Organization advocates for sharing quality medical information to combat health misinformation.
• U.S. medical schools lack formal training in effective health communication for lay audiences.
• Physicians often have insufficient skills in mass communication strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce fourth-year medical students to essential skills for communicating health information to the public via mass media.
• To assess the impact of a novel communication skills course on students' engagement and comfort with mass media.

Main Methods:

• A 90-minute class was developed and delivered by experienced physician communicators.
• The curriculum included a lecture, personal experience sharing, and small-group activities focusing on identifying objectives, drafting messages (Tweets, op-eds), and mock press conferences.
• Pre- and post-course surveys measured students' previous engagement and comfort levels with mass media communication.

Main Results:

• 127 students completed both surveys.
• Prior to the course, only 6% of students had comfortably used social media and 14% had used traditional media professionally.
• Post-course, students reported significant increases in comfort, perceived ability, and likelihood of using communication skills to advocate for patients (P < .001).

Conclusions:

• A short, skills-based course can effectively enhance medical students' confidence and perceived ability in mass health communication.
• The findings support the need for integrating comprehensive communication training into medical education curricula.
• The course is being expanded to a multi-session format for broader implementation.