Document Type
Article
Department
Family Medicine (East Africa)
Abstract
In healthcare, effective communication in complex situations such as end of life conversa- tions is critical for delivering high quality care. Whether residents learn from communica- tion training with actors depends on whether they are able to select appropriate informa- tion or ‘predictive cues’ from that learning situation that accurately reflect their or their peers’ performance and whether they use those cues for ensuing judgement. This study aimed to explore whether prompts can help medical residents improving use of predic- tive cues and judgement of communication skills. First and third year Kenyan residents (N = 41) from 8 different specialties were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups during a mock OSCE assessing advanced communication skills. Residents in the intervention arm received paper predictive cue prompts while residents in the control arm received paper regular prompts for self-judgement. In a pre- and post- test, residents’ use of predictive cues and the appropriateness of peer-judgements were evaluated against a pre-rated video of another resident. The intervention improved both the use of predictive cues in self-judgement and peer-judgement. Ensuing accuracy of peer-judgements in the pre- to post-test only partly improved: no effect from the intervention was found on overall appropriateness of judgements. However, when analyzing participants’ completeness of judgements over the various themes within the consultation, a reduction in inappropri- ate judgments scores was seen in the intervention group. In conclusion, predictive cue prompts can help learners to concentrate on relevant cues when evaluating communication skills and partly improve monitoring accuracy. Future research should focus on offering prompts more frequently to evaluate whether this increases the effect on monitoring ac- curacy in communication skills.
Publication (Name of Journal)
Advances in Health Sciences Education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-024-10364-w
Recommended Citation
Demeijer, F.,
Nyamu, N.,
de Bruin, A.
(2024). Can written prompts help medical residents to accurately monitor their own communication skills and those of others?. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 1-17.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_mc_fam_med/76
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.