Improving Communication Skill Competency in the Emergency Department through Role Play and Direct Observation

Chung,  Hyun Soo; Issenberg,  S Barry; You,  Je Sung; Cho,  Junho; Kim,  Min Joung; Park,  In Cheol; Lee,  Hahn Shick; Chung,  Sung Phil

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 24(2); 2013 > Article

Original Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2013;24(2): 216-223.

Improving Communication Skill Competency in the Emergency Department through Role Play and Direct Observation

Hyun Soo Chung, S Barry Issenberg, Je Sung You, Junho Cho, Min Joung Kim, In Cheol Park, Hahn Shick Lee, Sung Phil Chung

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. emstar@yuhs.ac
²Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA.
³Department of Emergency Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE:
Good communication between patient and medical staff in an emergency department (ED) fosters patient satisfaction and improves healthcare outcomes. Assessment and implementation of training is key in providing better patient care. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of providing communication skills training to ED physicians and nurses using problem identification, role playing and direct observation.
METHODS:
The ED faculty in collaboration with an external communications expert group developed a communication skills training manual. The training group participated in simulated patient scenarios followed by video feedback and debriefing sessions. The participants were assessed on their communication skills while delivering care to live patients in real clinical situations before and after the training. The communication skills of the training group were compared with those of the control group.
RESULTS:
A total of 28 residents and nurses from two departments were enrolled in this study. Pre- to post-training scores (scale 1-5) for the training group improved from 3.0 [2.8, 3.9] to 3.9 [3.1, 4.3] (p=0.025). However, the pre- and post-score difference between the training and control groups was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION:
Role play training has been found to be effective in improving communication skills. However, future research is required to develop a more effective training method and determine how to facilitate training implementation in complex clinical healthcare settings, such as the ED.

Key words: Communication, Emergency service, Observation, Quality Improvement, Role play