Acting like a doctor: oral case presentation curriculum for medical students

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background Verbal communication is an important element to clinical practice and an integral part of undergraduate medical education. The oral case presentation (OCP) is often used in professional verbal communication and remains commonplace in the clinical setting. The OCP additionally has a complex role in undergraduate teaching. Methods We designed a OCP curriculum taking into account reasoning, rhetorical and linguistic mechanisms. Delivered through a content and drama workshop involving a trained theatre actor to 45 pre-clinical, undergraduate medical students at our U.K. institution. Students were assessed objectively at weekly intervals by trained faculty. A paired t-test was performed to determine if the curriculum was effective in increasing OCP scores. Students' confidence was assessed using Likert scales. Findings An overall mean score improvement (M=20.3, SD 14.6, N=45) was significantly greater than zero, t (44) =9.3, two tail p <0.05, providing evidence that the curriculum was effective. A 95% confidence interval around the mean difference in score was 15.9-24.7. Confidence scores for both non-verbal and verbal elements of the OCP improved. Conclusion This curriculum led to an improvement in OCP scores and increased our students 'confidence with this modality of communication. Consideration should be given to incorporating dedicated teaching of the OCP in undergraduate education.