How to Optimize Physicians’ Communication Skills in Cancer Care: Results of a Randomized Study Assessing the Usefulness of Posttraining Consolidation Workshops

TLDR

Improving physicians’ communication skills is widely recognized, yet no studies have evaluated the efficacy of post‑training consolidation workshops. This randomized study evaluates the efficacy of six 3‑hour consolidation workshops delivered after a 2.5‑day basic training program. Efficacy was measured via audiotaped simulated and real patient interviews at baseline and post‑workshop (or 5 months later for controls), using the Cancer Research Campaign Workshop Evaluation Manual and a 14‑item patient perception questionnaire, with 63 physicians participating. Physicians who attended the workshops showed significantly greater improvements in communication skills—more open questions, reality‑alerting statements, acknowledgements, empathic statements, educated guesses, and negotiations—and patients reported higher perceived physician understanding of their disease, indicating that consolidation workshops enhance training effectiveness and clinical skill transfer.

Abstract

Although there is wide recognition of the usefulness of improving physicians' communication skills, no studies have yet assessed the efficacy of post-training consolidation workshops. This study aims to assess the efficacy of six 3-hour consolidation workshops conducted after a 2.5-day basic training program.Physicians, after attending the basic training program, were randomly assigned to consolidation workshops or to a waiting list. Training efficacy was assessed through simulated and actual patient interviews that were audiotaped at baseline and after consolidation workshops for the consolidation-workshop group, and approximately 5 months after the end of basic training for the waiting-list group. Communication skills were assessed according to the Cancer Research Campaign Workshop Evaluation Manual. Patients' perceptions of communication skills improvement were assessed using a 14-item questionnaire.Sixty-three physicians completed the training program. Communication skills improved significantly more in the consolidation-workshop group compared with the waiting-list group. In simulated interviews, group-by-time repeated measures analysis of variance showed a significant increase in open and open directive questions (P =.014) and utterances alerting patients to reality (P =.049), as well as a significant decrease in premature reassurance (P =.042). In actual patient interviews, results revealed a significant increase in acknowledgements (P =.022) and empathic statements (P =.009), in educated guesses (P =.041), and in negotiations (P =.008). Patients interacting with physicians who benefited from consolidation workshops reported higher scores concerning their physicians' understanding of their disease (P =.004).Consolidation workshops further improve a communication skills training program's efficacy and facilitate the transfer of acquired skills to clinical practice.