From practice to lecture hall: Optimizing communication courses in medical education

Communication skills are a central component of the medical profession and are already taught during medical studies. However, the design of teaching content for doctor-patient communication across Germany is not based on empirical data collected from physicians' everyday professional practice, meaning optimal preparation for future work is not guaranteed. The aim of this study was to identify the need for relevant topic content and to use the limited teaching time in communication courses for these topics, providing educators with empirically based selection criteria.

Using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, the need for relevant topics was determined. All teaching practices of the University of Lübeck were invited in writing to participate in the study. Teaching physicians rated, using a topic catalogue, which topics they considered relevant for communication courses in medical studies, as well as how challenging and frequent these topics are in everyday professional life.

The questionnaire was completed by 46 of the 70 invited teaching physicians (65.7%). Fifteen topics, including breaking bad news and communicating one's own mistakes, were rated as relevant for communication courses.

The results provide tailored recommendations for case studies in communication courses that are relevant for medical students' later professional practice. A concrete implementation involves the selection of relevant topics, enabling the practice of frequently encountered but less challenging topics at the beginning of studies and more difficult but rarer topics in advanced studies.