Communication for medical staff

In this open online module you find basic information about the communicative requirements for medical staff. Communication is culture-specific. Therefore, we focus on cultural issues in medical communication in the UK.

Communicating with patients and colleagues and a detailed analysis of patient-centred communication skills mark the beginning of this module. Then the first interview with a patient is looked at. You will learn how to obtain and give information and how to close the interview. In addition, the topic of letters is covered in this section.

The section on communicating with colleagues includes information on how to give medical case presentations, on relevant presentation skills and how to prepare a handover. The drafting of medical record case notes is another issue that will be dealt with.

Finally links and literature for further research and study is available in the resource material section.

How to make the most of this online module

In order to enhance your learning outcome, we suggest that you find a partner to exchange ideas and practise dialogues with. This can be a fellow student or colleague. Ask him or her to study and work on this online section with you to benefit as much as possible from its content.

Pairwork tasks are marked with this icon. There are four different pairwork tasks:

Discussion

Analyse & reflect

Role-play

Listening comprehension

After finishing the tasks, please give each other feedback on the results. This way, you will have ample, first-hand opportunity to practise the communicative principles given in this module.

One of these vital communicative principles is that communication is always a question of personal perception of a given situation, and, accordingly, it is changing constantly.

This module was authored by Dr. Debra Nestel and Carmel Nolan of Imperial College London, UK. On some pages you can watch role-play exercises by English medical students. The scenes are set at the offices of the UK medical college. For information on dress code in UK hospitals please refer to UK health care > Intercultural issues and compare to the information given in Communicating with colleagues > Case presentation 1, Section Analyse and reflect.