title: Assessing communication competence: a review of current tools.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The assessment of communication competence has become a major priority of medical educational, policy, and licensing organizations in the United States and Canada. Multiple tools are available to assess communication competence, but there are few studies that compare the tools.
  
  
  METHODS
  A consensus panel of six family medicine educators evaluated 15 instruments measuring the physician-patient interview. The primary evaluation criteria came from the Kalamazoo Consensus Statement (KCS), which derived from a multidisciplinary panel of experts that defined seven essential elements of physician-patient communication. We evaluated psychometric properties of the instruments and other assessment criteria felt to be important to family physicians (exploring family issues, interview efficiency, and usability/practicality).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Instruments that received the highest ratings on KCS elements were designed for faculty raters and varied in their practicality/usability ratings and psychometric properties. Few instruments were rated high on psychometric properties or exploring family issues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The process successfully reviewed and provided a framework for assessing communication skills instruments. There is a need to expand the study, including use of a larger cohort of reviewers to provide more validity to the results and minimize potential biases.
authors.affiliation: Family Practice Center, Maine Medical Center, 272 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101, USA. schirj@mmc.org
authors.forename: Julie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schirmer
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mauksch
authors.forename: Forrest
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: M Kim
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Marvel
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zoppi
authors.forename: Ronald M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pryzbylski
mesh_terms: D001077:Aptitude Tests; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results