Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine
Authors: Suzanne Kurtz, Jonathan Silverman and Juliet Draper
It has long been known that good communication skills are extremely useful in the practice of medicine. However, it has only more recently been recognised that it is possible to teach communication skills to medical students and young doctors, in the same way that one can teach any other skill. Thus, there is no basis in the previously held view that an ability to communicate is an inherent talent that one is either blessed with, or unfortunate enough not to possess.
With this in mind "Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine" seeks to provide a curriculum for the teaching of communication skills to doctors and medical students. In order to do this, the authors break communication skills down into specific tasks, and thus demonstrate the exact nature of the skills to be taught. They introduce the reader to the Calgary-Cambridge Observation Guide to the consultation, which both defines the required skills and provides help in the assessment of their use.
The book gives a lot of space to the justification of "skills-based" teaching in communication skills and is particularly well referenced. Extensive coverage is also given to the teaching methods that can be used including experiential teaching, video feedback and role-play. Specific chapters also cover the performance analysis of learners and how to give effective feedback, together with when and how to introduce research and theory into, what is essentially, practical teaching sessions. Finally, the particular problems of curriculum design and the assessment of the learner are explained in detail.
This easy-to-read book is logical in its layout, comprehensive in its content and thorough in its presentation of research evidence. It is, without doubt, the best book on this subject that I have ever read. I highly recommend it to all teachers of medical students, both academic and clinical, and particularly to those teachers involved in medical curriculum planning. After all, in the words of the authors, "communication is a core clinical skill and not an optional extra."
| Publisher: | Radcliffe Medical Press
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| ISBN: 1-85775-273-2
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| Orders: | Tel: 44 (0) 1235 528820
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| Email: | orders@radcliffemed.com
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| Reviewer: | Dr Adrian Boonin
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| Month of review: | October 2001
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