119 - Student Perceptions of the Impact of the Medical School Experience on Personal Factors That Influence Clinical Communication Skills

Poster Board Number: 119
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Clinical communication skills (CCS) are a vital component of medical education. Many studies have investigated how CCS are taught and assessed, while others have evaluated the role of personal and demographic factors on assessment outcomes. Few studies have analyzed the role of student experiences, attitudes, and perceptions about CCS in their acquisition and eventual mastery of these skills. This study examined the impact of the medical school experience (MSE) on the personal contexts that first- through fourth-year medical students believed influenced their perceptions of, attitudes towards, and eventual proficiency in CCS. Interviews were conducted in academic year 2021-2022. Data underwent thematic analysis using inductive and deductive coding based on the Transaction Model of Communication. Themes were constructed, reviewed, and defined by the researchers. Twenty-two participants contributed to the qualitative data pool, representing a diverse student population. Three themes answered the question, “Over the course of the medical school experience, how do the personal factors that influence clinical communication skills evolve?” These themes were: 1) Personal Identity; 2) Clinical Preparedness; and 3) Awareness. Personal Identity describes the impact of the MSE on intrinsic factors of personal identity, including attitudes towards CCS, empathy, personality, self-perceptions, and motivation to continue pursuing careers in medicine. This also encapsulated the creation of a new identity, “future doctor”. Clinical Preparedness describes student perceptions of their abilities to practice medicine and communicate competently. However, many students emphasized that the preclinical curriculum provided insufficient preparation and that real patient experiences during the clinical years adequately prepared them. Awareness describes their increasing recognition of how different identities shaped communication (ex. culture, ethnicity, gender, sexuality). However, several students also discussed their increasing awareness of what the practice of medicine could entail, with some describing medicine as becoming more holistic, while others considered alternative career paths like teaching, research, or health policy. The purpose of medical education is to produce competent healthcare practitioners capable of delivering collaborative, patient-centered care. Within anatomy education specifically, there are abundant opportunities to integrate CCS training, especially in the anatomy laboratory. Students interact with each other, peer teaching assistants, and faculty, as well as their donors i.e. their first patient. CCS can be incorporated into anatomy coursework through clinical cases, formal student handoffs between laboratory groups, and explicit training on the history and ethics of anatomy and medicine. This study has provided insights into the impact of the medical school experience on students’ abilities to communicate competently, develop personal and professional identities, and expand their awareness of both other’s identities and the possibilities that careers in medicine offer. This speaks to the continued need to emphasize communication in all aspects of professional healthcare education, as the future practice of medicine relies on a new generation of healthcare providers who are able to centralize communication for the purposes of patient care.