Doing the Hard Work of Learning: Oncologists’ Enduring Impressions of a Year-long Communication Skills Training Program

Supportive Care in Cancer (12/30/23) Vol. 32, No. 71 Epner, Daniel E.; Reddy, Suresh K.; Hui, David

A communications skills training program had a positive impact on oncologists' self-perceived skills and confidence with particular challenges, according to new research. The year-long program used reflection, narrative methods and action methods to promote lifelong learning of patient-centered communication skills and internalization of related attitudes and beliefs. A cross-sectional survey of the 114 medical oncology fellows who completed the training evaluated learners' skills, attitudes, confidence with certain scenarios and overall impressions on a 1-5 scale, with 1 = "strongly agree" and 5 = "strongly disagree." Overall, 60% of 68 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the communications skills curriculum had a significant impact on their practice. In addition, 64% agreed or strongly agreed that they regularly shared lessons they learned during the program. The survey yielded average domain scores of 1.89 (SD =?0.84) for skills, 2.16 (0.79) for attitudes, 2.05 (0.81) for confidence with particular challenges and 2.38 (0.94) for continued impressions, with significantly more positive results for teaching assistants compared with other respondents.

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