Empátia online

Az empátia kiemelt szerepet játszik az orvos–beteg együttműködésben, ezért elengedhetetlen, hogy az empatikus kommunikáció fejlesztése már az orvostanhallgatók képzése során megvalósuljon. Ehhez a leghatékonyabb módszer a valódi orvos–beteg szituációhoz hasonló helyzetek szimulációs gyakorlása. Az interakciók során alkalmazott empatikus kommunikáció nagymértékben elősegíti a terápiás együttműködést, a megértést. Ezért esett választásunk olyan érzelmileg komoly kihívást jelentő helyzetek vizsgálatára, amelyekben nagy szerepe van az empátiának, így a meggyőzést, ellenállást, valamint a rossz hír közlését gyakoroltató szituációkra. Az „Empatikus és asszertív kommunikáció a klinikai gyakorlatban” kurzust 2021 tavaszán a pandémia miatt online formában tudtuk megvalósítani. Tanulmányunkban arra keressük a választ, hogy ha a konzultáció az orvos–beteg között személyes jelenléttel kivitelezhetetlen és a kommunikációs csatorna az online formára korlátozódik, milyen nyelvi eszközei, lehetőségei vannak egy orvosnak, hogy a sikeres terápia érdekében az empatikus kommunikációt maximálisan megvalósíthassa. Kérdésként merül fel, hogy vajon csökken-e a kommunikáció hatékonysága vagy újabb lehetőségeket adhat az online tér. Gyakorlataink során azt vizsgáltuk, hogy az orvostanhallgatók milyen nyelvi eszközökkel tudják megvalósítani az empatikus kommunikációt, milyen nem-verbális és verbális interakció jöhet létre egy ilyen speciális helyzetben

Interdisciplinary Medical Communication Training at the University of Pécs

[EN] Medical communication training is being challenged to meet the demands of a more internationalized world. As a result, interdisciplinary simulation-based education is designed to advance clinical skill development, specifically in doctor-patient interactions. The Standardized Patient Program has been applied in American Medical Schools since the 1960s, implementing patient profiles based on authentic cases. At the University of Pécs, Medical School in Hungary, this model is being adapted to facilitate improving patient-interviewing, problem-solving, and medical reporting skills. The interdisciplinary program operates in Hungarian, German and English languages, utilizing actors to perform as simulated patients under the close observation of medical specialists and linguists. This innovative course is designed to train students to successfully collect patient histories while navigating medical, linguistic, emotional, and socio-cultural complexities of patients. Experts in medicine and language assess student performance, offering feedback and providing individualized training that students might improve their professional and communicative competencies. This paper examines how this interdisciplinary course provides valuable opportunities for more efficient patient-oriented communication practices. Through responding to medical emergencies, miscommunications, and conflicts in a safe environment, medical students prepare to deal with a diverse patient context, that more qualified and empathetic health personnel may be employed throughout clinics worldwide. Keywords: interdisciplinary simulation-based education, doctor-patient interaction, MediSkillsLab, medical history taking, language for specific purposes competenciesEklics, K.; Kárpáti, E.; Cathey, R.; Lee, A.; Koppán, Á. (2019). Interdisciplinary Medical Communication Training at the University of Pécs. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 695-702. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9443OCS69570

Feedback-based approach in teaching medical interviewing

Educational feedback is a facilitating tool in improving medical interviewing skills through simulation practices. The simulated patient (SP) programme at the University of Pécs Medical School aims to provide efficient help for educators and students alike in language for medical purposes, communication and clinical courses. The constructivist feedback methodological approach ensures that students in history taking classes learn from role-playing in simulated scenarios and the feedback offered from the simulated patient. Effective assessment includes the learners’ own reflection and the patients’ non-judgmental observation on perceived interpersonal communication skills, observed professional misconduct, students’ ability to cope in emotionally challenging situations, and suggestions for improvement. Giving feedback has to be offered regularly to enable improvement in medical communication and nurture self-confidence. Our questionnaire survey of the students who attended history taking courses involved both self-reflection and instructor feedback based on their performance during simulated scenarios. The results of the study demonstrated substantial developments in relationship-building skills and self-confidence for students in post-course clinical practice

Fecal calprotectin levels in pediatric cow's milk protein allergy

Introduction: The most prevalent food allergy in younger children is cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA), a hypersensitivity reaction to cow’s milk protein and its most common clinical manifestation is allergic colitis. The goal of our recent study was to assess somatic symptoms of CMPA and to prospectively observe the

FROM A SIMULATED PATIENT INTERVIEW TO A CASE PRESENTATION

Medical communication skills are learned during undergraduate studies and residency programmes by future doctors through case presentations, medical interviews, and healthcare staff interactions. Approaches like peer tutoring, simulation-based education, and blended learning enhance these skills. Our study aims to draw attention to the significance of doctor-patient and doctor-doctor scenarios by presenting a course that facilitates sociopragmatic, pragmalinguistic, and code-switching skills that medical students need to successfully employ in future healthcare settings. We consider patient information, case presenting, and interviewing skills, as well as profound knowledge of medical language equally important elements. While highlighting the essential components of the doctor-patient discourse and revealing the students’ development of code-switching abilities, this article shares the results of a feedback survey completed by participants in a course entitled ‘History taking with actors; simulation practices in the mediskillslab’. We can see the gradual improvement in using medical terms, and the growing confidence of students presenting cases. The programme’s assessment approach, which provides constructive feedback from three perspectives—clinician, simulated patient, and communication instructor—helps the students pinpoint their areas for enhancement. Most students report no major difficulties in taking medical history by employing a simplified ‘patient-friendly’ language understandable to laypeople. However, when they intentionally choose a different code for reporting on their patients by using medical terms, younger students face challenges in creating a brief medical text. The most demanding task for senior participants proved to be delivering bad news; both emotionally and code-switch wise. Our study identifies these difficulties from history-taking simulations to case reports to raise awareness of levels of medical communication. As a conclusion, we believe that an early onset and gradual introduction of activities including history taking, case presentation, and breaking bad news should be incorporated into medical curricula to assist in the acquisition of highly professional, assertive, and empathetic communication skills by graduation

Improving Assertive Communication Skills in Simulated Medical Encounters

Assertive communication is a powerful communication skill in everyday clinical practice among staff members and in doctor-patient encounters. It has an important role in eliciting relevant information during patient interviewing, similarly, in shared decision-making or convincing patients of certain therapy options. The skills are also needed in delegating tasks or giving feedback to colleagues. Through simulated medical encounters, culturally appropriate assertive communication skills can be improved to tackle challenges in hierarchical healthcare contexts. Our comparative study analyses the results of a questionnaire survey of two simulation-based communication courses, where one explicitly aims to use assertive skills in clinical settings while the other implicitly encourages students to defend their opinions in doctor-patient scenarios. Blended-learning methods, support from clinicians and mentors in promoting self-confidence and self-esteem, constructive feedback from both simulated patients and the observers (linguists, psychologists), teamwork skills training and assertive communication techniques were applied to ensure the effectiveness of the courses. The article shares the verbal and non-verbal tools of assertive communication evaluated by the observers, and the self-evaluations of students, which focused on their own behavioural changes in terms of sense of responsibility, sense of failure and navigating between assertiveness and empathy