Engelsk titel: Self-efficacy among doctors in hospitals after a course in clinical communication
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Författare:
Gulbrandsen P
;
Jensen BF
;
Finset A
Email: pal.gulbrandsen@ahus.no
Språk: Nor
Antal referenser: 6
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 09111001
Sammanfattning
Background. Clinical communication in the specialist health services has only rarely been investigated scientifically. A course in clinical communication, developed in the U.S., was tested in a large Norwegian hospital. In this sub-study we wished to investigate the extent to which doctors’ confidence in their own skills changed during the course.
Material and methods. Doctors under 60 years of age, who worked in a clinical somatic department, could be included in the study. Immediately prior to and after the course, the participants completed a validated questionnaire that mainly focused on grading their confidence (in their own mastery of specific communication skills) on a ten-point scale with regard to nine key communicative skills.
Results. A total of 103 randomly selected doctors were asked to participate, and 62 of them completed the training course, which lasted 20 hours. The participants changed their attitudes in a positive direction with regard to the conviction that communication skills can be learned through such training courses. Their confidence also changed in a positive direction. This change was modest (on aver-age by 0.6 points on a ten-point scale), but statistically significant for seven of the nine skills covered. After the course, 41 doctors had improved their confidence, and 10 left with less confidence. The latter group nevertheless took a positive view of the learning effect of the training course. The effects were unrelated to the doctors’ gender, age, position (chief consultant or subordinate), prior confidence or speciality. Among the skills taught at the course, the one of showing empathy was identified by the highest number of participants as a skill they would not want to practise after the completion of the course.
Interpretation. A brief course in communication skills for hospital doctors leads to somewhat improved confidence among the participants. Whether this observed change will be reflected in improved clinical communication is subject to ongoing research.