Development of a communication curriculum for emergency medicine residents.
BACKGROUND
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires residency training programs to develop methods to teach and assess communication skills in residents to ensure competence as a practitioner. In response, we piloted a communication curriculum for emergency medicine residents. We describe the curriculum and suggest future directions for development based on the strengths and weaknesses of residents' performance and their reactions to the curriculum.


METHODS
Twenty-six residents in a 3-year program at a university-affiliated county hospital participated. Curriculum components were an introductory session, a single standardized patient encounter using a locally written, unvalidated checklist assessing residents' communication skills, a videotape-facilitated self-assessment, and a private feedback session.


RESULTS
Residents demonstrated greatest strengths in basic interpersonal skills and efficient information gathering and greatest weakness in empathy. Residents rated the curriculum favorably.


CONCLUSIONS
The curriculum as implemented offers an initial foundation for teaching and learning critical care communication. Instruction in empathy requires improvement.
Sullivan
Christine
C
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Christine.Sullivan@tmcmed.org
Ellison
Stefanie R
SR
Quaintance
Jennifer
J
Arnold
Louise
L
Godrey
Paula
P
D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires