1. 52 Medical Encounter
Boland, K., et al.
Abstract #1146
A Communication Curriculum for Pediatric
Trainees: Results of a Needs Assessment
*Kimberly Boland1
, Tara McKinley1
, Eleanor Peterson1
,
Skye Murray2
, Katherine Potter1
, Aaron Calhoun1
,
The Communication Curriculum Initiative1
,
1
University of Louisville School of Medicine,
2
Norton Healthcare
Introduction
Interpersonal and Communication Skills as defined by the
ACGME is a core competency that is critical to the profes-
sional skill set. Our Pediatric training program had no for-
mal communication curriculum, yet demonstrated multiple
instances of residents displaying poor communication with
patients, families, staff, and professional colleagues. To
improve performance, we established a multidisciplinary
working group that included physicians, a communication
expert, and a chaplain to promote the skills needed to be-
come proficient in this competency.
Methods
To define the current communication skill level of the resi-
dents and fellows, a needs assessment survey was sent to
faculty, nurses, and support staff who routinely work with
trainees. These trainees include pediatric and medicine-
pediatric residents as well as pediatric fellows. The same
survey was also sent to the trainees to determine their per-
ception of their skill set. An anonymous, web-based survey
tool was used to collect responses.
Results
167 responses were recorded from the non-trainee group,
45% were nurses, 37% were faculty and 18% were made up
of child life therapists, social workers, chaplains, discharge
planners and other support staff. 45 responses were re-
corded from the trainee group: 86% were residents and 14%
were fellows. When asked to select the five most impor-
tant characteristics of good communication from a list of
11, there was concordance between groups in the top five.
These were “clear, allows time for processing, targeted to
audience, involves active listening, and thorough.” Non-resi-
dent respondents felt residents’ communication was “good”
on a five point Likert scale (poor, fair, good, very good, ex-
cellent). Residents rated themselves higher at “very good.”
414 open ended responses were recorded further identify-
ing areas for improvement.
Discussion
The data collected from this needs assessment guided the
development of a novel communication curriculum which
will address real deficiencies in trainee communication at
an interdisciplinary level.
Keywords: communication, needs assessment, resident,
training
Abstract #1147
Parental Assessment of Medical Student
Simulated Email Responses
*Jocelyn Schiller1
, Jennifer Christner1
, Brent Stansfield1
,
Caroline Watnick1
, Patricia Mullan1
1
University of Michigan Medical School
Purpose
Our pediatric medical student clerkship utilizes simulated
emails from parents to evaluate students’ knowledge, com-
munication and professionalism. Faculty members created
a structured 9-item grading rubric. Student improvement
and faculty inter-rater reliability were previously reported.
However, little is known about what patients’ actually desire
in e-mails from their physicians. Mixed methods were uti-
lized to elicit what parents’ desire in email communication
with physicians and to compare parent/faculty structured
ratings of students’ email responses. We hypothesized dif-
ferences may exist between parent/faculty grading of email
responses.
Methods
Five volunteer parent focus groups explored patient-phy-
sician email communication. They also graded student
simulated email responses. Focus group transcripts were
qualitatively analyzed, identifying themes regarding parental
expectations about email correspondence with physicians. A
linear model was used to examine the association between
faculty and parent grading of student responses to simulated
email.
Results
Themes that emerged from analysis of focus groups were:
1) building the relationship, 2) clarity of communication
and 3) purpose/expectations of email. Pearson’s correla-
tion revealed that parent and faculty ratings are correlated
(r=.41,t(3)=4.11,p<.05). However, using item by rater type
interaction, we also discovered that parents and faculty do
appear to place differing weight on certain characteristics
of email responses. Parents also rate some items higher or
lower than faculty (p < 0.05).
Conclusions
This study identifies parental expectations of email with
their physicians. It also reveals differences in what parents
vs. faculty rank as key items in email communication. As use
of electronic communication continues to increase world-
wide, we believe that this study will have significant impact
on how communication is taught in medical education.
Keywords: medical students, email, patient perspectives