Explicit Training in Systematic Communication Strategies: A Pilot Study Exploring the Incorporation of Communication Tools by First-Year Residents in Simulation and in Clinical Practice

OBJECTIVES Educational approaches for training physicians in clinical communications vary, and whether physicians apply the communication skills they learn or find them useful in the clinic is not well known. The aim of this study was to determine how first-year residents who received explicit instruction in 7 communication strategies would apply them in a simulation exercise and in clinical practice.METHODS First-year Internal Medicine residents at an urban teaching hospital received instruction in 7 systematic communication strategies: Ask-Tell-Ask, Teach-back, open-ended questioning, NURSE, open body language, pausing, and plain language. Residents were evaluated on their use of specific communication behaviors associated with the 7 strategies during a simulation exercise of disclosing a medical error to a standardized patient. Control group residents who did the simulation before attending the training program and training group residents who did the simulation after the training were compared. Residents were queried 6 months after the training program on their use of communication strategies during clinical practice.RESULTS A total of 27 residents participated (n = 13 control group; n = 14 training group). The training group performed behaviors for "establishing patient understanding" significantly more often than the control group. Both groups used non-verbal communication and behaviors for addressing patient emotions at similar levels. Of the 24 residents who responded to the 6-month follow-up questionnaire, 24 (100%) reported using Ask-Tell-Ask, open-ended questioning, and Teach-back, and 22 (92%) reported using NURSE statements and non-verbal communication. Most respondents reported using the strategies in clinical practice often or very often (79%) and found the strategies useful or very useful (96%).CONCLUSION Providing explicit instruction in systematic communication strategies, particularly those focused on establishing patient understanding, may be an efficient approach for helping early career physicians develop effective communication skills that can be readily implemented during clinical training and practice.