Communication skills and undergraduate psychiatry: a description of an innovative approach to prepare Australian medical students for their clinical psychiatry attachment.
OBJECTIVE
To address the increasing diversity in the linguistic and ethnic backgrounds of medical students at the University of Melbourne, a program was developed to prepare students for the particular challenges in cultural literacy and idiomatic English language proficiency, especially when exploring sensitive areas of patients' personal history. The authors outline the University of Melbourne program and present two case studies.


RESULTS
Post hoc confidential survey of students' appraisals of the program is presented.


CONCLUSIONS
The survey found a high level of acceptance and approval among most students.
Couper
Jeremy
J
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. couperjw@svhm.org.au
Hawthorne
Lesleyanne
L
Hawthorne
Graeme
G
Tan
Eng-Seong
ES
Roberts
Alan
A
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*