Rapid Responses to:

LETTERS: Erik T Walbeehm Target SHOs and registrars for communication skills training BMJ 2005; 330: 792-a [Full text]

Rapid Responses: Submit a response to this article

Rapid Responses published:

Role of Specialist Registrars in Communication Skills Training

INDIRA S VINJAMURI   (1 April 2005)

A good read but not entirely complete

Ameeth Sanu   (8 April 2005)

Role of Specialist Registrars in Communication Skills Training 1 April 2005
INDIRA S VINJAMURI, Specialist Registrar in Psychiatry Assertive Outreach Team, Arundel House, Smithdown Road, Liverpool L152HE Send response to journal: Re: Role of Specialist Registrars in Communication Skills Training	I completely agree with the author of the article that SHOs and SpRs need to be more adept at communication skills than the junior doctors. As Specialist Registrars in Psychiatry, good communiction skills are at the heart of our job. Our SHOs are well trained in the same too. They have formal OSCE stations in their MRCPsych Part 1 exams where they have a few stations addressing communication skills, breaking bad news, etc. In the part 2 exams, there is an observed interview session where the candidates actually have to interview patients for 10 minutes in front of the examiners. As SpRs we run small group sessions for SHOs where they are encouraged to bring in a video taped interviews with patients for discussion and this is a good forum for discussion and obtaining skills. I wonder whether other specialities lack such training/facility? Competing interests: None declared
A good read but not entirely complete 8 April 2005
Ameeth Sanu, SHO in Surgcal rotation Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Wrexham. LL13 7TZ Send response to journal: Re: A good read but not entirely complete	Dear Editor, I completely agree with your expressed views. It is of prime importance that the target group for communication skills should be the PRHOs, SHOs and Registrars. They are the most likely members of the team to have a direct interaction with either the patient or their relatives in most scenarios. It is nice to know that a program exists in Netherlands to improve communication skills of SHOs and Registrars. But we should not ignore the programs that we have in UK at the moment. We have well structured formal teaching in communication skills in most of our courses such as Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CRIISP) to name a few. Theses courses are meant for SHOs and Registrars. By this letter what I mean to say is that, though the idea of having a structured teaching program on communication skills for the SHOs and Registrars seem such a good idea we should not forget the fact that this already exists in UK to some extent. Thanking you, Dr. Ameeth Sanu Competing interests: None declared