Course description
2024/2025 – 1st year
Medical communication course code: AOKMAG1091_1A
credit: 2 credits
CONTACTS
Course director:Dr. Adrienne Stauder (stauder.adrienne[at]med.semmelweis-univ.hu)
Course leader: Dr. János Pilling
Secretaries: Csilla Motyovszki and Réka Polgárdi
Secretariat: NET Building, 20th floor, Room 2015; E-mail: titkarsag.magatartastudomany[at]semmelweis-univ.hu;
Tel: 210-2930 extension 56126 or 56114
With any request concerning the course, please first contact the course secretariat.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Proper communication is an essential element of effective healing. Good communication helps to form a trusting relationship between the physician and the patient, it allows the doctor to gather effectively the information that underpins the diagnosis, and it improves the patient’s cooperation and adherence with treatments. The aim of education is partly to teach communication techniques that can make the daily tasks of doctors more effective: listening to, interviewing, informing and promoting cooperation of the patients. The subjects of education are also elements of the everyday doctor-patient relationship, which have recently come to the fore, such as e.g shared decision making, suggestive effects of medical communication, communication aspects of patient safety.
In addition to describing the general regularities of medical communication, the course also presents the specialities of communication in various areas of the health care. Thus, we deal with the peculiarities of communication with children or the elderly, discussion about sexual topics and the cultural competence of the doctor. In our education, we place great emphasis on the difficult issues of the doctor-patient relationship, so we deal with the communication of bad news and the prevention and management of aggression.
The main goal of the course is to teach special communication knowledge to medical students that can help them create proper doctor-patient relationship and improve their effectiveness in medical practice. .
COMPETENCIES TO AQUIRE:
Upon successful completion of the subject, the students will be able to
- effectively gather information to make a diagnosis by using appropriate questioning techniques;
- use communication techniques that facilitate the understanding and remembering during patient information;
- know and apply specific communication techniques to express their attention and empathy;
- use several communication techniques to improve the patient’s therapeutic cooperation;
- inform the patient about the possible risks of the treatments in accordance with the legal regulation, in an objective, yet non-alarming way;
- can activate the patient in order to become a partner in his own treatment as much as possible, and empower the patient himself to contribute as much as possible to his own recovery or improvement of his condition;
- have effective methods to facilitate lifestyle change;
- be aware of the suggestive effects that doctor’s communication can have; be able to use communication methods that put the positive effects of the doctor’s words at the service of cooperation and healing;
- be able to communicate in a way that suits the individual characteristics of the patient (age, different social and cultural backgrounds, different levels of health understanding, possible mental disorders or disabilities);
- be able to communicate on intimate issues without embarassment;
- know and be able to use communication methods to manage tensions and conflicts;
- breaking bad news in a compassionate way (eg news of incurable disease, news of death, news of congenital malformation);
- can effectively use modern technology for the purposes of medical communication;
- know and be able to use communication tools that increase patient safety.
Requirements
The signature at the end of the semester will be given with the prerequisite of participation at minimum 75% of the seminars.
Participation and making up for absences:
Participation list will be recorded at every seminar. It is possible to make up for ONE absence by participating in another seminar group the same week (only once in a semester, upon agreement with both teachers!).
The participation at a replacement seminar must be documented with the certification taht you can download from this webpage.
Type of the exam: oral
Exam topics: see Exam topic lists “A” and “B” among the next tabs)
Method of the calculation of marks: performance on the oral exam.
Requirements at the exam: The oral exam is based on the course text book and the lectures.
Course text book: Pilling János (ed.) Medical Communication in Practice, Medicina 2020. In the bookstores of the Medicina Kiadó (https://www.medicina-kiado.hu/cegunkrol/boltjaink/) students of the Semmelweis University are entitled to a 10% discount upon presentation of their student ID.
Moodle: The recordings and handouts of lectures and complementary teaching materials related to the practices/seminars are available in the Moodle ( https://itc.semmelweis.hu/moodle/ )
Schedule and Teachers
2024/2025 1st Semester
Seminars and teachers
EM1:1 Weeks 2-7
Thursday 09:00-11:15 NET-SZ.06
Bényi Mária
EM1:2 Weeks 2-7
Friday 10:30-12:45 EOK-SZEM-2
Szabó Karolina
EM1:3 Weeks 8-13
Friday 11:15-13:30 NET-SZ.04
Sándor Mónika
EM1:4 Weeks 8-13
Thursday 10:30-12:45 EOK-SZEM-7
Deák Johanna
EM1:5 Weeks 8-13
Friday 10:30-12:45 EOK-SZEM-2
Szabó Karolina
EM1:6 Weeks 8-13
Thursday 09:00-11:15 NET-SZ.06
Bényi Mária
EM1:7 Weeks 8-13
Friday 13:45-16:00 NET-SZ.04
Sándor Mónika
EM1:8 Weeks 2-7
Friday 11:15-13:30 NET-SZ.04
Sándor Mónika
EM1:9 Weeks 2-7
Friday 13:45-16:00 NET-SZ.04
Sándor Mónika
EM1:10 Weeks 2-7
Monday 08:00-10:15 NET-SZ.01
Kozlovsky Éva
EM1:11 Weeks 8-13
Monday 08:00-10:15 NET-SZ.01
Kozlovsky Éva
EM1:12 Weeks 2-7
Tuesday 12:15-14:30 NET-SZ.08
Ujma Péter
EM1:13 Weeks 8-13
Tuesday 12:15-14:30 NET-SZ.08
Ujma Péter
EM1:14 Weeks 2-7
Monday 10:00-12:15 NET-SZ.09
Kollár János
EM1:15 Weeks 8-13
Monday 10:00-12:15 NET-SZ.09
Kollár János
EM1:16 Weeks 2-7
Tuesday 10:45-13:00 EOK-SZEM-2
Hídvégi Zsófia
EM1:17 Weeks 8-13
Tuesday 10:45-13:00 EOK-SZEM-2
Hídvégi Zsófia
EM1:18 Weeks 2-7
Thursday 08:00-10:15 EOK-SZEM-7
Fogas Benjámin
EM1:19 Weeks 8-13
Monday 13:45-16:00 NET-SZ.07
Ujma Péter
EM1:20 Weeks 2-7
Monday 13:45-16:00 NET-SZ.07
Szalai Tamás
EM1:21 Weeks 8-13
Thursday 08:00-10:15 EOK-SZEM-7
Fogas Benjámin
EM1:22 Weeks 2-7
Thursday 10:30-12:45 EOK-SZEM-7
Deák Johanna
Teacher’s contact is available in the Moodle. :
Bényi Mária
benyi.maria[at]gmail.com
Deák Johanna
johanna.deak[at]gmail.com
Fogas Benjamin
benyofogas[at]gmail.com
Hídvégi Zsófia
hidvegi.zsofi[at]gmail.com
Kollár János
janoskollar[at]gmail.com
Kozlovsky Éva
evakozlovsky[at]gmail.com
Sándor Mónika
moni.sandor1[at]gmail.com
Szabó Karolina
karolinaa.szabo[at]gmail.com
Szalai Tamás Dömötör
szalai.domotor[at]gmail.com
Ujma Péter
peteru88[at]gmail.com
Lectures and Practices
LECTURES : Week 1-5
Time: Thursdays 13:15-14:45
Venue: NET Zöld (Green Lecture Hall) (1089 Budapest, Nagyvárad tér 4. )
Week 1 (September 5): Introduction. Communication difficulties and possible solutions in the everyday medical practice. (János Kollár)
Week 2. (September 12): Promoting behavior change. The development of the patient-physician collaboration (Adrienne Stauder)
Week 3. (September 19): Communicating risks of treatments. Suggestive communication in medical practice. (János Kollár)
Week 4. (September 26): Breaking Bad News. Disclosing Medical Errors. (János Kollár)
Week 5. (October 3): Communication about functional complaints (Adrienne Stauder)
PRACTICES: Weeks 2-7 or 8-13 6 times x 3 hours; a total of 18 hours
(see SCHEDULE AND TEACHERS)
Practice 1. Communication in everyday life and in the medical practice. The active listening. Communication aspects in empathy.
Practice 2.: Patient information, patient education. Communicating with patients with low health literacy.
Practice 3.: Promoting lifestyle change: motivational interview, shared decision-making.
Practice 4.: Seminar. Communicating bad news (practice). Suggestive communication techniques. Communicating about complementary and alternative therapies.
Practice 5.: Seminar. Communication with tense, hostile patients, strategies to prevent violence. Assertive communication.
Practice 6.: Seminar. Cultural competence of the doctor. Communicating with different age groups (eg. children, elderly).
Exam topics
Exam topics list A:
- The significance of medical communication. Misconceptions and facts about medical communication.
(source: Pilling, J: Medical Communication in practice. Medicina, Budapest, 2020. pp.15-22.)
- Doctor-patient consultation. (25-44.)
- Promoting lifestyle change: the 5A and 5R methods; the transtheoretical model of behavior change. (47-52 and 58-62.)
- Promoting lifestyle change: motivational interviewing. (52-57 and 61-62.)
- Communication options for developing health literacy. (65-74.)
- Communicating risks of treatments. (77-85.)
- Shared decision making. (87-95.)
- Suggestive communication in medical practice. (97-107.)
Exam topics list „B”
- Communication with children. (109-118.)
- Communication with older people. (109-110 and 118-123.)
- Cultural competence of the physician. (127-135.)
- Communication with patients using complementary and alternative treatments. (137-146.)
- Communication about functional symptoms (149-164.)
- Communication with tense, hostile people. (185-196.)
- Breaking bad news. (221-237.)
- Communication aspects of patient safety. (239-254)
- Communication with people living with disabilities. (257-272)
- E-health: use of t technological tools in health communication. (291-307.)