Assessing effective communication skills in students during clinical education.

Abstract

Physiotherapists help their clients recover from injury and improve functional mobility and capacity, through participation in appropriate exercise. Physiotherapists must work with their clients. The success of most physiotherapy interventions depends on positive motivation of the client and compliance with the prescribed exercise program. Motivation needs to be e®ectively communicated. How a question is phrased during a patient interview e®ects whether a patient listens, understands what is required, is convinced of the bene ̄t of the exercise, and is prepared to comply with the protocol as instructed. This process underpins the success of the physiotherapy program. Development of a student's ability to communicate e®ectively is a vital component of the entry-level physiotherapy curriculum. The recent article published in the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Journal entitled \Physiotherapistpatient communication in entry-level physiotherapy education: A national survey in Nigeria" alerts physiotherapy educators to the importance of maximising clinical communication skills in students. This is a well-written article which reports the frequency and assessment methods adopted by entry-level physiotherapy programs in Nigeria, to evaluate clinical communication skills in physiotherapy students. A questionnaire modelled on the \National survey of clinical communication assessment in medical education in the United Kingdom" was modi ̄ed and sent to all physiotherapy schools in Nigeria. Data were collected from six physiotherapy programs. Results showed that all programs conducted formal assessment of student clinical communication skills approximately three times a year, commencing in the second year of the program. The assessments were in various formats including Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) with actors or real patients, case reports, charts, short written answer tests and mini clinical evaluation exercises. This article also discussed the challenges associated with the assessment of clinical communication, including the \validity of method of assessment, inadequate resources, inexperienced examiners and content integration."