Dataset Information

Development of a self-assessment tool for resident doctors’ communication skills in India

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE:Effective communication skills are essential for resident doctors to provide optimum patient care. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the self-assessment of resident doctors’ communication skills in India. METHODS:This was a mixed-methods study conducted in 2 phases. The first phase consisted of questionnaire development, including the identification of relevant literature, focus group discussions with residents and experts from clinical specialties, and pre-testing of the questionnaire. The second phase involved administering the questionnaire survey to 95 residents from the Departments of Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, and Surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India in April 2019. Internal consistency was tested and the factor structure was analyzed to test construct validity. RESULTS:The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections: (A) 4 items on doctor-patient conflicts and the role of communication skills in avoiding these conflicts, (B) 29 items on self-assessment of communication skills in different settings, and (C) 8 items on barriers to practicing good communication skills. Sections B and C had good internal consistency (Cronbach ?: 0.885 and 0.771, respectively). Section C had a 2-factor solution, and the barriers were classified as ‘training’ and ‘infrastructure’ factors. CONCLUSION:This appears to be a valid assessment tool of resident doctors’ communication skills, with potential utility for identifying gaps in communication skills and developing communication skills modules.

SUBMITTER: Baitha U

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6635607 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Development of a self-assessment tool for resident doctors’ communication skills in India

Baitha Upendra U Ranjan Piyush P Sarkar Siddharth S Arora Charu C Kumari Archana A Dwivedi Sada Nand SN Patil Asmita A Jamshed Nayer N

Journal of educational evaluation for health professions 20190624

<h4>Purpose</h4>Effective communication skills are essential for resident doctors to provide optimum patient care. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the self-assessment of resident doctors’ communication skills in India.<h4>Methods</h4>This was a mixed-methods study conducted in 2 phases. The first phase consisted of questionnaire development, including the identification of relevant literature, focus group discussions with residents and experts from clinical s ...[more]

PMID: 31230429

Similar Datasets

Project description:Purpose:Communication skills education is still relatively new in some non-Western countries. Further, most evaluation research on communication skills education examines only short-term results. In our communication skills program in Qatar, we aimed to: 1) assess the impact of the communication skills course on participant skills application; 2) assess the length of time since course completion associated with participant skills application; and 3) assess participant gender or clinical position associated with participant skills application. Methods:Seven hundred and thirty-eight physicians completed a seven-module communication skills course. Participants reflected on what they learned in the course and how the course had impacted their behavior through a nine-item online survey that included a four-item Communication Workshop Impact Scale (CWIS), three open questions, and two demographic questions. To assess the effect of time since workshop on outcomes, we stratified the respondents into five groups based on how long ago they had completed the course. Results:Three hundred and thirty-two physicians completed the survey. Participants reported agreement with the items on the CWIS: X=4.45 (range 1-5; SD=0.70). When asked which skill(s) they had been able to implement in their clinical practice, 235 gave a specific response, either a specific communication skill (eg, ask open questions), a higher-order category of skills (eg, questioning skills), or the name of one of the seven modules of the course. Only 28 participants listed the name of a skill or module name that they had not been able to implement. There was no evidence of difference in CWIS score based on time since course completion. There was no gender difference; however, residents had significantly lower CWIS scores than fellows (4.70 vs. 4.29, p<0.05). Conclusion:Participants reported agreement with response items about the impact of the course on their skills application. Participant gender did not play a significant role, but residents had lower scores than did fellows. Furthermore, most physicians (92%) were able to name something specific that they had learned from the course and were currently implementing in their practice. Positive outcomes of the course did not seem to diminish over time. Future research should identify whether observable communication behavior matches the self-reported behavior.

Dataset Information

Development of a self-assessment tool for resident doctors’ communication skills in India

Publications

Development of a self-assessment tool for resident doctors’ communication skills in India

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets