OBJECTIVES Good interprofessional communication is fundamental to effective teamworking in medicine. Finalmed is a private course that teaches the principles and methods of clinical presenting as an iterative technique of reasoning though clinical data. We have tested the efficacy of this technique using a questionnaire-based study. DESIGN An anonymized 10-point Likert scale questionnaire was...

BACKGROUND Out-of-hours centres provide telephone support to patients with medical problems. In most of these centres specially-trained nurses handle incoming telephone calls. They assess patients' needs, the degree of urgency, and determine the level of care required. Assessment of the medical problem and the quality of 'care-by-phone' depend on the medical and communication skills of the call...

PURPOSE Although the importance of communication skills in anesthetic practice is increasingly recognized, formal communication skills training has hitherto dealt only with limited aspects of this professional activity. We aimed to document and analyze the informally-learned communication that takes place between anesthesia personnel and patients at induction of and emergence from general anest...

INTRODUCTION Death is an inescapable certainty of life. Variability in care for dying persons, however, is present. The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) sought to guide care for the last days of life but was phased out after intense scrutiny. SOURCES OF DATA A governmental report and rapid review of evidence were considered alongside mass and social media reporting. An evidence review of end-of-l...

OBJECTIVES To compare the scorings of real and standardized patients on physician communication skills. METHODS Patient scoring (n=183) on physicians' communication skills was determined by 93 real and 90 standardized patients. Eighty physicians (42 specialists and 38 general physicians) in private practice were enrolled. Data were analyzed using self administered questionnaires and checklist...

Review of "Effect of communication skills training program for oncologists based on patient preferences for communication when receiving bad news: A randomized controlled trial" by Fujimori et al. (2014), Journal of Clinical Oncology, 32, 2166-2172. For a further discussion of survey research, please see the related article by Julie Ponto starting on page 168.

This case study is of an at-risk youth that has participated in traditional karate classes. The study specifically examines the effects of the classes on her selfesteem, self-control, communication skills, social skills, and responsibility. This case study is on going and at this point in time there is not enough data to draw a significant conclusion. It is recommended that the methodology be r...

BACKGROUND In December 2002, 74 medical students in the second preclinical years at the American University of Beirut (AUB) attended a workshop on basic communication skills (CS). The students watched video clips which demonstrated different communication skills and stages of the consultation, and role-played to try out ways they could improve the consultation. Their familiarity with the skills...

Excellent communication skills, both verbal and nonverbal, are needed throughout the perioperative experience to educate patients undergoing surgery and so ease their anxiety. In addition, good communication with theatre colleagues, the multidisciplinary team, and other departments is vital to achieve technical excellence and individualised, holistic patient care. This article discusses the imp...

PURPOSE The evidence suggests that a longitudinal training of communication skills embedded in a rich clinical context is most effective. In this study we evaluated the acquisition of communication skills under such conditions. METHODS In a longitudinal design the communication skills of a randomly selected sample of 25 trainees of a three-year postgraduate training programme for general prac...