Department of Radiology
Medical Education | Radiology
The purpose of this project is to teach radiologists who perform image guided interventions effective communication skills. Complaints related to communication errors between Radiologists and patients during interventional procedures are not uncommon. Communication for Radiologists performing IR procedures can be challenging since they are meeting the patient for the first time on the day of the procedure. Good communication skills are important to foster a good doctor/patient relationship, which can improve clinical outcomes and even decrease litigation.1 There is growing emphasis on communication skills/patient centered care in radiology.2 This is evident given the American College of Radiology's Imaging 3.0 initiative in which the radiologist went from being only involved in reading, dictating, and transcribing the imaging study to being involved in the entire imaging process from initial consult to conveying the results of the imaging study to the patient or clinician. Simulation has been used to allow doctors to practice their communication skills in a safe setting and get feedback on how to improve. Bell et al showed that using simulation with acting patients to teach communication and relations skills was found to be universally valued by all participants and was found to be preferred over simple observation.3 While this study was not focused on radiologists specifically, other studies have suggested that the radiologist can benefit from simulation based communication skills training.4 Additional training in the communication of abnormal results with patients has been shown to result in: greater professional satisfaction, decreased stress for the physician, and improved patient compliance. Allowing physicians to rehearse the actual communication skills through role play allowed for self-reflection which in turn improved physician communication skills.5 Training courses that allowed physicians to practice delivering bad news improved performance and, more importantly, altered attitudes and beliefs about the importance of communication. Effects of this type of training were shown to be evident for as long as 12 months post training.6 Accordingly, we decided the most effective way to train physicians who perform image guided interventions in effective communication skills was through simulation.
radiology, imaging procedures, interventional procedures, physician-patient communication, physician education, communication skills, simulation
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© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Author's accepted manuscript posted after 12 months with a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License as allowed by the publisher's author rights policy at https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/sharing.
DOI of Published Version
Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology. Accepted manuscript 2018 July 5. doi:10.1067/j.cpradiol.2018.05.013. Link to article on publisher's site
Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology
DeBenedectis, Carolynn M. and Rosen, Max P., "Teaching Radiologists Who Perform Image Guided Interventions Effective Communication Skills Through Simulation" (2018). Radiology Publications and Presentations. 408.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Available for download on Friday, July 05, 2019