The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association encourages university programs to cultivate skills related to client health literacy among students. One means of doing so is to train students to write in a way that places lower health literacy demands on clients and their families. This study tested the effectiveness of a health literacy module…

Background: Concussions are a public health concern. Underdiagnosis and mismanagement negatively impact patients, risking in persistent symptoms and permanent disability. Objective: This scoping review consolidates the heterogeneous and inconsistent concussion research and identifies key areas for medical education curriculum design to focus on…

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are highly prevalent illnesses that can result in profound impairment. While many patients with these disorders present in primary care, research suggests that physicians under-detect and suboptimally manage MDD and PTSD in their patients. The development of more effective…

Background: Effective communication is essential to the practice of high-quality medicine. There are methodological challenges in communication skills training. This study was performed in order to assess the educational benefits of communication skills training by video feedback method versus traditional formats such as lectures on clinical…

A review of 36 empirical studies on teaching interviewing skills in various health profession programs is presented. The focus is on teaching skills which consider the interpersonal skills relevant to effective clinical interviewing. Programs are compared and implications for future research are discussed. (GDC)

Ways to teach three types of interviewing skills are described, including giving information to patients, handling emotions on the part of patients, and motivating patients. The students showed significant increases in their interviewing skills, but did not change significantly in self-assessment of their level of confidence. (Author/MLW)

A study compared effects of two methods of teaching geriatric dentistry: traditional approach based on readings, and computer-assisted simulation of patient interaction and clinical decision making. Although subjects (n=20) showed no significant differences by treatment, computer-trained students had statistically nonsignificant higher performance…