Does Learner Communication Behavior Change Based on Context? Observations of Surgical Residents Across Clinical Rotations.

Objective: As surgical residency programs begin developing communication skills-specific training curricula, it is important to understand those skills required of surgeons in the many settings in which they work. It is also useful to observe the skills that residents already demonstrate, as well as those skills that need further development. This study evaluated surgical residents' communication behaviors across different services to understand how the clinical learning environment influences their approach to surgeon-patient interactions.

How I do it: Meeting Milestones Through a Communication Coaching Program.

Objective: An existing communication coaching program was adapted to address an educational gap to enhance the communication skills of surgical residents.

Design: Expert communication coaches observe surgical residents in various clinical settings and provide detailed feedback and recommendations for improvement.

Setting: Observations occur across diverse clinical environments, including inpatient and outpatient settings, peri-operative contexts, team meetings, and skills labs.

Children's affective and arousal responses to live interparental conflict: Links with appraisals.

While previous research has consistently found that negative forms of interparental conflict predict poorer outcomes in children, less is known about children's immediate responses to conflict. In a sample of 101 children (9-11 years of age) and their parents, we used a novel methodological approach to examine children's affect and perceived arousal responses to a live conflict between their parents in the lab. In addition, we examined children's self-reported cognitions regarding interparental conflict as predictors of these affect and perceived arousal responses.