Medical Communication Training: The Effect of Gender and Experience and Goals of Care Discussions.

Objectives: Communication skills are increasingly recognized as a crucial component of medical training; however, little is known about the efficacy of various training methods when considering diverse student backgrounds, such as gender and prior training experience (ie, year of residency). This study explores medical learners' perceptions of effective communication in conducting goals of care (GOC) discussions with patients after receiving communication training as well as assessing for differences in preparedness for GOC discussions by gender and prior training experience.

Methods: This study included a sample of 114 residents in either their first, second, or third year of Internal Medicine residency.

Association of Medical Student Characteristics and Empathy After a Communication Workshop.

Medical education values patient-centered communication skills of responding to patient's emotions, however, guidance is limited on how to provide a well-rounded curriculum. This study examines the effect of a 90-minute communication workshop on the level of empathy of the 116 medical students who participated in the workshop. We used three psychometric categories from the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) as dependent variables.