Simulated Patient's Feedback to Improve Communication Skills of Clerkship Students

Overview

Journal BMC Med Educ

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Medical Education

Date 2020 Jan 17

PMID 31941466

Citations 18

Authors

Ayesha Aleem Qureshi

Tabassum Zehra

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The changing trends of the society and revisions to medical education have changed the way medical students are trained to adroitly care for patients hence, patient centered care has become need of today's society and communication skills are imperative in developing patient physician relationship. Increasingly, simulations are being used to aid medical students to incorporate theoretical knowledge into practice. There are innumerable studies regarding communication skills in terms of reliability, validity and feasibility but no such study has been documented using simulated patient's feedback in improving communication skills in Pakistan. The aim of this study is to explore whether simulated patients' feedback improves the communication skills of undergraduate medical students.

Methods: During a randomized control trail a group of eighty students in the final year clerkship at Al-Nafees Medical College have participated in pre-post Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) on communication skills. The students were selected through convenience sampling technique. Four Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) stations based on different scenarios of communication skills were developed. Each station of fifteen minutes duration was assessed by both simulated patients and faculty using a validated tool LCSAS (Liverpool Communication Skills Assessment Scale). The difference between the pre and post-tests of two groups was explored by applying independent t-test. Cronbach's alpha was used to check the reliability of scores and effect size was calculated.

Results: Results of this study have showed that there is significant improvement in communication skills after receiving feedback from simulated patients (p value ≤0.05) was observed. An overall Cronbach α = 0.83 on LCSAS reveal a high internal consistency and there was adequate demonstration of effect size(r = 0.8).

Conclusion: The results on the scores of the students on the Liverpool Communication Skills Assessment Scale confirm that simulated patient's feedback is essential to enhance the communication skills of the medical students. This study offers significant evidence towards successful conduction of a formal communication skills development initiative at Al-Nafees Medical College using simulated patient feedback during teaching and assessments.

Citing Articles

Education Research: A Qualitative Analysis of Communication-Focused Feedback Provided to Child Neurology Residents During an Objective Structured Clinical Examination.

Ho C, Weisleder P, Ream M, Albert D Neurol Educ. 2025; 4(1):e200187.

PMID: 39949894 PMC: 11825087. DOI: 10.1212/NE9.0000000000200187.

A Scoping Review of Pakistani Healthcare Simulation: Insights for Lower-Middle-Income Countries.

Bajwa M, Najeeb F, Alnazzawi H, Ayub A, Bell J, Sadiq F Cureus. 2025; 16(12):e76485.

PMID: 39872565 PMC: 11770241. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.76485.

Communication skills in pediatrics: perception of medical students.

Medeiros G, Negrao B, Sales M, de Paula Goulart L, Appenzeller S BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):1545.

PMID: 39732667 PMC: 11682658. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-06578-6.

Creating a safe space: medical students' perspectives on using actor simulations for learning communication skills.

Antila A, Lindblom S, Louhiala P, Pyorala E BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):1225.

PMID: 39468604 PMC: 11520799. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-06184-6.

Investigating the Use of Simulated Patient Ratings in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations to Enhance Undergraduate Medical Assessments in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Mahmoud A Cureus. 2024; 16(7):e65643.

PMID: 39205707 PMC: 11351464. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.65643.

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