Introduction: Receiving clinical tasks via the telephone and correctly prioritizing job lists are integral to patient safety. However, structured training on these skills is currently lacking in many medical curriculums. This study evaluated the impact of telephone communication and prioritization training on the ability of final year medical students to carry out these skills during an on-call simulation. Methods: Twenty-five final year King's College London medical students underwent a training session focused on telephone communication and task prioritization (group A). The performance of group A students in an on-call simulation involving these tasks was compared with twenty-five untrained final year students (group B). All participants completed a questionnaire about their training and/or simulation experience. Results: Group A compared to B students asked for more task-related information during each simulated call and correctly prioritized the resultant job list on significantly more occasions. Significantly more group A students reported being confident in answering calls and prioritizing their lists. The majority of students supported the addition of telephone communication and prioritization training into the medical curriculum. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the educational benefit of structured teaching on the ability of final year medical students to receive telephone handovers and prioritize job lists.
RCT Entities:
Introduction: Receiving clinical tasks via the telephone and correctly prioritizing job lists are integral to patient safety. However, structured training on these skills is currently lacking in many medical curriculums. This study evaluated the impact of telephone communication and prioritization training on the ability of final year medical students to carry out these skills during an on-call simulation. Methods: Twenty-five final year King's College London medical students underwent a training session focused on telephone communication and task prioritization (group A). The performance of group A students in an on-call simulation involving these tasks was compared with twenty-five untrained final year students (group B). All participants completed a questionnaire about their training and/or simulation experience. Results: Group A compared to B students asked for more task-related information during each simulated call and correctly prioritized the resultant job list on significantly more occasions. Significantly more group A students reported being confident in answering calls and prioritizing their lists. The majority of students supported the addition of telephone communication and prioritization training into the medical curriculum. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the educational benefit of structured teaching on the ability of final year medical students to receive telephone handovers and prioritize job lists.