title: Dunno if you've any plans for the future: medical student indirect questioning in simulated oncology interviews.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This exploratory study investigated the motives of medical students (N = 63) for using indirect questions of the type I don't know if [you have already heard about chemotherapies], I don't know how [you are], or I don't know what [you do for a living] in simulated patient interviews during a communication skills course.
  
  
  METHODS
  I don't know questions (IDK-Qs) were observed during the initial evaluation of students' communication skills; they were systematically identified through video screening and subjected to a qualitative content and discourse analysis considering their context, their content, their intent and their effect on the simulated patients. To evaluate the specificity of medical students' IDK-Qs, the data were compared with a data set of oncologists (N = 31) conducting simulated patient interviews in the context of a Communication Skills Training (CST).
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the interviews, 41.3% of the students asked 1-6 IDK-Qs. The IDK-Qs were attributed to three content categories: medical/treatment questions (N = 24); lifestyle/psychosocial questions (N = 18); and "inviting questions" questions (N = 11). Most of the IDK-Qs had an exploratory function (46/53), with simulated patients providing detailed responses or asking for more information (36/53). IDK-Qs were rare in the oncologist sample compared to the student sample (5 vs. 53 occurrences).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IDK-Qs showed a question design difference between medical students and oncologists in simulated patient interviews. Among other reasons for this difference, the possible function of IDK-Qs as a protective linguistic strategy and marker for psychological discomfort is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Liaison Service, Lausanne University Hospital, Les Allières, 1011 Lausanne-CHUV, Switzerland. celine.bourquin@chuv.ch
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bourquin
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stiefel
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berney
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002321:Career Choice; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000193:education*; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult