BMJ  2005;330:792 (2 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7494.792-a

Letter

Target SHOs and registrars for communication skills training

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Kidd et al argue that undergraduates need to learn clinical and communication skills side by side.1 Every doctor needs communication skills, from pathologists to surgeons and physicians. In the Netherlands undergraduates spend considerable time on how to communicate with patients. But I think that this is targeting the wrong group, and time is taken away from essential preclinical and clinical studies. Students learn to talk to simulated patients with, for example, a Dukes's D colon cancer, at a time in their studies when they don't know what cancer is, what a Dukes's D colon cancer means, and what the impact is on a patient. Students receive this kind of training in their second year and have forgotten about it when they become senior house officers.

Senior house officers (SHOs) and registrars should be doing the training. We do the damage in our "bad news" talks. We know what . . . [Full text of this article]

Erik T Walbeehm, specialist registrar plastic surgery

Rotterdam, 3022 BC, Netherlands erikwalbeehm@mac.com


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Relevant Article

Clinical and communication skills
Jane Kidd, Vinod Patel, Ed Peile, and Yvonne Carter
BMJ 2005 330: 374-375. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Role of Specialist Registrars in Communication Skills Training
INDIRA S VINJAMURI
bmj.com, 1 Apr 2005 [Full text]
A good read but not entirely complete
Ameeth Sanu
bmj.com, 8 Apr 2005 [Full text]
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