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…

Objective: The authors review the literature about educational programs for teaching sexual history-taking skills and describe novel techniques for teaching these skills. Methods: Psychiatric residents enrolled in a brief sexual history-taking course that included instruction on the Sexual Events Classification System, feedback on residents'…

Navigating the contemporary health care system represents an arduous challenge for consumers. In response to this challenge, health educators should prepare informed and skilled consumers to assume active roles in their health care. Through active participation in health care decisions, consumers can maximize the quality and duration of…

Objective: This study evaluates whether a course that was designed for first-year psychiatric residents and that specifically addressed psychodynamic principles fostered residents' progress in knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding these concepts. Methods: The course was given in the 2005 academic year to all residents (N=18) in their first…

The objective of this paper is to draw attention to four features that distinguish the pedagogy of patient interviewing from the teaching of other clinical skills: (a) students are not naive to the skill to be learned, (b) they encounter role models with a wide variability in interviewing styles, (c) clinical teachers are not usually specialists…

A program of videotaping residents interacting with patients is discussed and evaluated at the three levels of participation: teaching faculty, student, and staff. Most found the method beneficial, with the most positive aspects being the suggestions from behavioral and nonbehavioral science faculty and the opportunity to see oneself interacting…

A technique to teach first-year medical students to conduct brief interviews that focus on how medical illness affects the daily life of patients is described. The technique includes a conceptual model of the interview and an explicit teaching method for instructors and students. (Author/MLW)

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine introduced a seminar in 2003 to teach communication and listening skills to third year medical students. The students learned a structured communication format called "L-I-S-T-E-N" which they utilized to conduct a life review with an adult over age 65. The faculty evaluated this…

Eighty-four third- and fourth-year medical students participated in three clerkship groups: one with no formal attention paid to interviewing skills, one using readings, and one using observations, videotaped interviewing, and readings with formal feedback. The last method caused most improvement in interviewing skills. (MSE)

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)

A UCLA-San Fernando Valley Medical Program for training residents and interns in interpersonal skills is reported and evaluated. Using a modification of interpersonal process recall (IPR), the teaching technique uses both a structured course format and ongoing videotaping and reviewing of house officer-patient interactions with a faculty member.…

Observations were made of 108 pre-clinical medical students interviewing patients carefully selected by general practitioner instructors, under strict supervision in an audiovisual studio. Videotape replay, patient comments, and later group teaching were used to discover students with major defects in personal communication. (Author/LBH)

The results of the Physician-Patient Situation Test given before and after an interviewing course taught at the University of Texas at Houston in 1977 are reported. It is suggested that medical students can increase receptivity to patients and that an interviewing course can foster the acquisition of empathic skills. (LBH)

Small groups of medical students are asked to enact a situation in which family members visit their general practitioner with a problem regarding one of the children, and the diffusion of this problem within the family is traced during the course of the simulation. Discussion focuses on the feelings evoked by the simulation. (Author/LBH)

The use of psychiatric patients in teaching interview technique to medical students is studied through a survey of participating patients and medical students. The experience was judged by both patients and students as useful, with more students than patients reporting the experience as being stressful. (Author/JMD)