| Title |
Translating medical documents improves students’ communication skills in simulated physician-patient encounters
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
BMC Medical Education, February 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12909-016-0594-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Anja Bittner, Johannes Bittner, Ansgar Jonietz, Christoph Dybowski, Sigrid Harendza |
| Abstract |
Patient-physician communication should be based on plain and simple language. Despite communication skill trainings in undergraduate medical curricula medical students and physicians are often still not aware of using medical jargon when communicating with patients. The aim of this study was to compare linguistic communication skills of undergraduate medical students who voluntarily translate medical documents into plain language with students who do not participate in this voluntary task. Fifty-nine undergraduate medical students participated in this study. Twenty-nine participants were actively involved in voluntarily translating medical documents for real patients into plain language on the online-platform https://washabich.de (WHI group) and 30 participants were not (non-WHI group). The assessment resembled a virtual consultation hour, where participants were connected via skype to six simulated patients (SPs). The SPs assessed participants' communication skills. All conversations were transcribed and assessed for communication skills and medical correctness by a blinded expert. All participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire on their communication skills. Across all raters, the WHI group was assessed significantly (p = .007) better than the non-WHI group regarding the use of plain language. The blinded expert assessed the WHI group significantly (p = .018) better regarding the use of stylistic devices of communication. The SPs would choose participants from the WHI group significantly (p = .041) more frequently as their personal physician. No significant differences between the two groups were observed with respect to the medical correctness of the consultations. Written translation of medical documents is associated with significantly more frequent use of plain language in simulated physician-patient encounters. Similar extracurricular exercises might be a useful tool for medical students to enhance their communication skills with respect to using plain language in physician-patient communication. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 8 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 3 | 38% |
| United States | 1 | 13% |
| Brazil | 1 | 13% |
| France | 1 | 13% |
| Unknown | 2 | 25% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | 38% |
| Members of the public | 2 | 25% |
| Scientists | 2 | 25% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 13% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 88 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 88 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 14 | 16% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 11 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 10 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 7 | 8% |
| Professor > Associate Professor | 6 | 7% |
| Other | 20 | 23% |
| Unknown | 20 | 23% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 27 | 31% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 11 | 13% |
| Psychology | 7 | 8% |
| Social Sciences | 4 | 5% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 3 | 3% |
| Other | 10 | 11% |
| Unknown | 26 | 30% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 September 2018.
All research outputs
#6,049,488
of 24,137,933 outputs
Outputs from BMC Medical Education
#969
of 3,670 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#80,073
of 302,128 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Medical Education
#29
of 84 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,137,933 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 74th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,670 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 302,128 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 84 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.