Telephone referral education, and evidence of retention and transfer after six-months.
BACKGROUND
Effective communication between clinicians is essential for safe, efficient healthcare. We undertook a study to determine the longer-term effectiveness of an education session employing a structured method to teach referral-making skills to medical students.


METHODS
All final year medical students received a forty-five minute education intervention consisting: discussion of effective telephone referrals; video viewing and critique; explanation, demonstration and practice using ISBAR; provision of a memory aid for use in their clinical work. Audio recordings were taken during a subsequent standardised simulation scenario and blindly assessed using a validated scoring system. Recordings were taken immediately before (control), several hours after (intervention), and at approximately six months after the education. Retention of the acronym and self-reports of transfer to the clinical environment were measured with a questionnaire at eight months.


RESULTS
Referral clarity at six months was significantly improved from pre-intervention, and referral content showed a trend towards improvement. Both measures were lower than the immediate post-education test. The ISBAR acronym was remembered by 59.4% (n = 95/160) and used by the vast majority of the respondents who had made a clinical telephone referral (n = 135/143; 94.4%).


CONCLUSIONS
A brief education session improved telephone communication in a simulated environment above baseline for over six months, achieved functional retention of the acronym over a seven to eight month period and resulted in self reports of transfer of the learning into practice.
Southern Health Simulation Centre, Monash Medical Centre Moorabbin Campus, Centre Road, East Bentleigh, Melbourne, Australia. stumarshall@monashsimulation.com
Stuart D
SD
Marshall
Julia C
JC
Harrison
Brendan
B
Flanagan
D000004:Abbreviations as Topic; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013689:Telephone; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014741:Video Recording