Teaching communication skills: an essential part of residency training

Article Abstract:

The communication skills and comfort level of pediatric residents may increase after they have completed a communication skills curriculum. Medical school pediatric faculty designed a communication skills unit primarily for first-year pediatric residents, but all pediatric residents received part of the curriculum. The unit was designed in response to resident requests and complaints from patients' families. Residents were taught how to communicate bad news to parents and children, how to handle hostile parents, how to talk to seriously ill children, and about death and dying issues. Teachers included parent volunteers and hospital staff who role-played various situations. Residents stated the unit met their need for better communication skills and increased their self-knowledge and self-confidence related to their communication skills.

Education, Residents (Medicine), Communication in medicine, Medical communication

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Pediatric computer-assisted instruction

Article Abstract:

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) may improve medical education by encouraging students to apply knowledge to problem solving situations. CAI has been used in medical education since the 1980s, when the availability of microcomputers made CAI more accessible and affordable. Patient simulation or patient management programs (PMPs) are a form of CAI that may be used to reinforce previously learned material. The use of microcomputers to develop computer-assisted tutorials, such as multimedia textbooks (MMTBs), is recent. Authoring systems, specialized software used to create instructional programs, can be used to develop MMTBs. Medical institutions may need to collaborate on the development of CAI to reinforce the continued existence of CAI in medical education.

Editorial

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A comparison of educational interventions: multimedia textbook, standard lecture, and printed textbook

Article Abstract:

Multimedia textbooks may be a viable alternative to lectures or printed textbooks in instructing medical students. A study of 179 third- and fourth-year medical students found that a multimedia textbook (MMTB) had greater instructional effectiveness than that of a lecture but was equal to that of a printed textbook. The MMTB was equal in instructional efficiency, as measured by fact-based knowledge gain per unit time, to that of the lecture and of the printed textbook. Most of the students enjoyed using the MMTB. MMTB's may reduce the need for instructors to present the same lecture material time after time, and may allow learners to absorb material at their own pace.

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