Affiliation:
1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle
2. Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle
3. Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle
Abstract
Purpose
Patients with communication impairments including speech, language, cognition, or hearing disorders face many barriers to communication in health care settings. These patients report loss of autonomy in health care decision making, are at increased risk for medical errors, and are less satisfied with health care than patients without communication disorders. Although medical students receive training in effective patient–provider communication, most of this training assumes patients have intact communication abilities. Medical students and other health care providers are often unprepared to meet the communication needs of patients with communication disorders in health care encounters. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a curriculum for training medical students to communicate effectively with patients who have a range of communication disorders.
Method
Twenty-six 2nd-year medical students volunteered for assessments before and after a required workshop in a class. This workshop included instruction about different types of communication disorders and communication strategies, followed by practice with standardized patients portraying different communication disorders. Outcome measures included a knowledge test, ratings of self-efficacy, and evaluation of students' skills when interviewing standardized patients portraying aphasia and dysarthria.
Results
Medical students demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge, self-efficacy, and use of recommended communication techniques.
Conclusions
The curriculum appeared effective in changing medical students' knowledge and skills for working with patients with communication disorders. Equipping medical students to meet the needs of patients with communication disorders is 1 key element for improving the quality of health care for this patient population.
Publisher
American Speech Language Hearing Association
Subject
Speech and Hearing,Linguistics and Language,Developmental and Educational Psychology,Otorhinolaryngology
Cited by
34 articles.
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