Outcome of parent-physician communication skills training for pediatric residents.
OBJECTIVE
communication skills represent an essential component of clinical competence. In the field of pediatrics, communication between physicians and patients' parents is characterized by particular difficulties. To investigate the effects of a parent-physician communication skills training program on OSCE performance and self-efficacy in a group control design.


METHODS
parallel to their daily work in the outpatient department, intervention-group experienced clinicians in practice (n=14) participated in a communication training with standardized parents. Control-group physicians (n=14) did not receive any training beyond their daily work. Performance was assessed by independent video ratings of an OSCE. Both groups rated their self-efficacy prior to and following training.


RESULTS
regarding OSCE performance, the intervention group demonstrated superior skills in building relationships with parents (p<.024) and tended to perform better in exploring parents' problems (p<.081). The communication training program led to significant improvement in self-efficacy with respect to the specific training objectives in the intervention group (p<.046).


CONCLUSIONS
even in physicians with considerable experience, structured communication training with standardized parents leads to significant improvement in OSCE performance and self-efficacy. PRACTISE IMPLICATIONS: briefness and tight structure make the presented communication training program applicable even for experienced physicians in daily clinical practice.
Nikendei
Christoph
C
Department of Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine, University of Heidelberg Medical Hospital, Germany. christoph.nikendei@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Bosse
Hans Martin
HM
Hoffmann
Katja
K
Möltner
Andreas
A
Hancke
Rabea
R
Conrad
Corinna
C
Huwendiek
Soeren
S
Hoffmann
Georg F
GF
Herzog
Wolfgang
W
Jünger
Jana
J
Schultz
Jobst-Hendrik
JH
D002648:Child; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D016730:Program Development; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires