Marcy Rosenbaum^1,2
Conor Gilligan^3,4 and Miriam Grotowski³
1 EACH: International Assocation for Communication in Healthcare 2 University of Iowa College of Medicine
3 University of Newcastle
4 EACH: International Association for Communication in Healthcare

Background:
Recentyearshaveseenaplethoraofliteratureemergerelatingtotheimportance of, and providing recommendations for, giving feedback to learners in medical education. Our recent Cochrane review1 reinforces the importance of specific, personalised feedback as the most important factor in improving medical students’ interpersonal communication skills. However, students are rarely directly observed in their communication with patients in clinical practice, and therefore rarely receive feedback on their communication skills. This represents a missed opportunity for valuable, formative assessment. 

Why is this topic important?: There is often a disconnect between the communication skills training (CST) delivered in classroom settings, and that modelled and reinforced in clinical settings, with clinical supervisors and students often emphasising clinical content over the communication process in interactions.2 Exploration of the gaps between the content of patient encounters and case presentations has shown that social history, patient perspective, and communication quality are not often conveyed in clinical case presentations, heightening the difficulty of any feedback focus on these areas3. 

While CST has become ubiquitous in health professional curricula, supervising clinicians and clinical educators may have had limited exposure to CST. While teaching and assessment of communication skills during clinical training is important in order to reinforce communication skills learned in formal courses and develop new skills, clinical supervisors can find this task challenging to accomplish. 

This workshop will explore workplace based clinical communication assessment and feedback opportunities which can be embedded as formative components of all clinical placement and clerkship experiences. 

Workshop format:
The workshop will use experiential learning approaches to role-model and provide opportunities for all participants to practice key skills. 

10 minutes – introductions and eliciting participants’ learning needs 

10 minutes – discussion of key communication skills and consultation elements which can form the basis of formative feedback, and discussion of simple feedback structures/approaches 

60 minutes – role play practice with communication observation and feedback approaches. 10 minutes – wrap-up and take-home messages 

Who should participate?:
Anyone with a role in clinical teaching or supervision or working with those involved in clinical education. 

Level of workshop:
Beginner to advanced 

Take home messages:
The main goal of this workshop will be to provide educators with approaches to maximise opportunities for delivering brief, focused and constructive feedback on learners’ communication skills in time-limited clinical placement settings. 

References (maximum three)
Gilligan C, Powell M, Lynagh MC, Ward BM, Lonsdale C, Harvey P, James EL, Rich D, Dewi SP, Nepal S, Cro' HA, Silverman J. Interventions for improving medical students' interpersonal communication in medical consultations. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD012418. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012418.pub2.