Panacea Journal of Medical Sciences

Effectiveness of Educational Intervention to Enhance Communication Skills among Interns

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Article Type : Original Article

Author Details: Rajavel Murugan P., Padmavathi T

Volume : 6

Issue : 1

Online ISSN : 2348-7682

Print ISSN : 2249-8176

Article First Page : 20

Article End Page : 25

Abstract

Communication skills are required for medical professionals to carry out multiple tasks in their daily practice. An effective doctor-patient communication is vital for satisfying needs and expectations of patients, lack of which leads to conflicts between patients and doctors. This skill is found to be deficient among practitioners and interns as teaching or training on communication skill is not included in the present curriculum. Studies have proved that many educational interventions including interactive workshops can enhance the skills of students in effectively communicating with patients. 25 interns were involved each in study and control groups after obtaining approval from Institutional Ethics Committee. After assessing levels of domains of communication for both groups by questionnaire, Workshop (lecture, video play, small group discussion, role play and feedback) was conducted for the study group for two hours. Assessment was done by OSCE for the study and control group. Prior to intervention, 24% interns had knowledge about communication skills and only 8% felt confident in communication. Comparison of overall scores of Post workshop OSCE between two groups by unpaired t test showed significant difference (p value < 0.0001). Of the 10 variables used in OSCE rating scale, four showed no significance. The levels of knowledge and confidence of interns are low in communicating with patients. Hence intervention like workshop can improve this skill if included in curriculum.

Keywords: Communication skill, Interns, OSCE, Workshop

 

Doi No:-10.18231