Audiology students’ clinical communication and information giving practices during initial consultations: The impact of a brief intervention.

ABSTRACT Purpose: This exploratory study aimed to describe the impact of a brief training workshop on student audiologists’ clinical communication and information giving practices during initial consultations with adult patients. Method: This study used a two-group pretest-posttest qualitative research design, comprising three phases. Phases 1 and 3 comprised analysis of video recordings of feedback sessions during initial audiology consultations between adult patients and student audiologists, followed by video-based reflections and semi-structured interviews with students one week after the audiological consultation. Phase 2 comprised the intervention phase which took the form of a training workshop with all final year audiology students. Eight interactions were video recorded in total, four pre-intervention and four post-intervention. Our analysis incorporated an interactional sociolinguistic focus examining content and students’ communication strategies when providing information to patients. Results: Limited clinical experience and not knowing how much information to provide were common challenges reported by students. Before the intervention, students were observed to use script-like methods of providing information, with a systematic presentation of results per test. Post-intervention, students began with the audiological diagnosis and related the findings to concerns raised by patients during case history taking. Conclusions: Findings suggest that even a brief training workshop can have an immediate and tangible impact on the way students provide information to patients in audiological consultations. Teaching and learning clinical communication skills is an ongoing process. Students should also be afforded opportunities for practice accompanied by reflexive engagements in order for them to consolidate and strengthen the skills they have learned.