Personalized remedial intensive training of one medical student in communication and interview skills.

BACKGROUND: Medical students found to be deficient in communication and interview skills pose a difficult remediation challenge. There is no standard way to address such deficiencies. The authors describe the development and implementation of an intensive remedial curriculum. DESCRIPTION: A 2nd-year student found deficient in communication skills was held back for a year and paired with a clinical preceptor for intensive skills training, including a weekly precepted clinic, structured readings, standardized patient (SP) exercises, communications workshops, and end-of-year standardized clinical evaluations. EVALUATION: The student's self-assessment and the preceptor's assessments of communication skill gradually improved over the year. The student improved through a progression of SP exercises focusing on specific communication skills. The student passed a final evaluation exercise with an excellent rating from the SP and the preceptor.
CONCLUSIONS: This multistrategy approach to improve communication skills can be applied to other students and in other institutions. Based on the Bayer Institute communication workshops and integrated coaching techniques, the material forms a framework to help deficient students to become proficient in communication and interviewing skills.