To assess the current state of published literature on communication skill teaching in urology in order to inform future directions for research and teaching. Excellent patient-physician communication skills increase understanding of medical conditions, facilitate shared decision making regarding treatment planning, improve clinical outcomes, and decrease lawsuits. Surgical and procedure-based subspecialties, including urology, have generally been slow to incorporate formal communication skill teaching into curricula for postgraduate trainees.
We performed a PubMed literature search using multiple keywords, selecting and reviewing papers published in English and addressing one of three domains (curriculum development, teaching methods, assessment methods) of communication skills teaching. The distribution of manuscripts within the urology-specific literature was compared to that of procedure-based specialties as a whole.
Eight papers were found in the urology literature, and 24 papers in other procedure-based specialties. Within the urology-specific literature, all 8 papers (100%) acknowledged the need for communication curriculum development, one (12.5%) described how communication skills were taught, and one (12.5%) discussed how communication skills were assessed. Fewer manuscripts in other procedure-based specialties acknowledged the need to develop curricula (29.2%, p=0.0007), but were equally likely to discuss communication skill teaching (37.5%, p=0.63) and assessment (33.3%, p=0.73). Orthopedic surgery is the only surgical subspecialty with ongoing, adaptable, formal training for physicians.
Most current publications addressing communication skills in procedure-based specialties are specialty-specific and focus on only one of the three communication domains. Opportunities exist to share information and create more integrated models to teach communication skills in urology.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. 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 01 January 2018.
All research outputs
#17,292,294
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Urology
#5,942
of 7,812 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#283,237
of 449,047 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Urology
#85
of 131 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,812 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.5. This one is in the 15th percentile – i.e., 15% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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 449,047 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 131 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 29th percentile – i.e., 29% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
