title: Effectiveness of a clinical interviewing training program for family practice residents: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study evaluated the effectiveness of a clinical interviewing training program for third-year family practice trainees and determined which other factors influence residents' training in clinical communication.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a randomized, multicenter, educational trial involving 193 third-year family practice residents from eight centers in Spain. Centers were randomly assigned to two groups, one of which would undertake a communication skills training program and one of which would not. The program was resident centered, based on residents' practice experience, and provided structured feedback. The main outcome measures were residents' consultation behavior with six standardized patient encounters (three before and three after the training) as measured with the GATHA-RES rating scale by an observer blinded to group assignment of the residents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intervention group trainees displayed marginally better communication skills at the start of the study than those in the control group. At the end of the study, trainees who had received the training program did not show better communication skills than those who had not received the training program. Factors related to the training center environment, having a teacher trained in clinical interviewing, younger age, and a longer interview duration correlated with better communication skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The trial program did not appear to improve the global communication skills of trainees. This study highlights the importance of the trainee's teachers, the residency program environment, and earlier exposure to training in planning future programs to improve residents' communication skills.
authors.affiliation: Cordoba Family Medicine Training Unit,Cordoba School of Medicine, Cordoba, Spain. rruizm@papps.org
authors.forename: Roger Ruiz
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Moral
authors.forename: Juan Jose
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rodriguez Salvador
authors.forename: Luis Perula
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: de Torres
authors.forename: Jose Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Prados Castillejo
mesh_terms: D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007407:Interviews as Topic