Medical Communication

2025/2026 – 1st year

Medical communication course code: AOKMAG1091_1A

credit: 2 credits

CONTACTS

Course director:Dr. Adrienne Stauder (stauder.adrienne[at]semmelweis.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

Schedule, Groups and Teachers

Teacher’s contact is available in the Moodle

Detailed curriculum

Requirements of the examination:

(In case of a theoretical examination, please provide the topic list; in case of a practical exam, specify the topics and the method of the exam)

The oral exam is based on the course text book and the lecture handouts posted on the website.

Course text book:

Pilling, János: Medical Communication in practice. Medicina, Budapest, 2020.

Exam topics list A:

1. The significance of medical communication. Misconceptions and facts about medical communication.

      (source: Pilling, J: Medical Communication in practice. Medicina, Budapest, 2020. pp.15-22.)

2. Doctor-patient consultation. (25-44.)
3. Promoting lifestyle change: the 5A and 5R methods; the transtheoretical model of behavior change. (47-52 and 58-62.)
4. Promoting lifestyle change: motivational interviewing. (52-57 and 61-62.)
5. Communication options for developing health literacy. (65-74.)
6. Communicating risks of treatments. (77-85.)
7. Shared decision making. (87-95.)
8. Suggestive communication in medical practice. (97-107.)
9. Communication with children. (109-118.)
10. Communication with older people. Communication with elderly having age-related mental disorders. (118-123 and 213-214)
11. Cultural competence of the physician. (127-135.)

Exam topics list „B”

12. Communication about functional symptoms (149-164.)
13. Communication with patients using complementary and alternative treatments. (137-146.)
14. Communicating about intimate issues. (167-183)
15. Communication with tense, hostile people. (185-196.)
16. Communication with depressed patients. Recognizing the risk of suicide. (200-207)
17. Communication with patients having anxiety symptoms or addictions. (207-213)
18. Breaking bad news. (221-237.)
19. Communication aspects of patient safety. (239-254)
20. Communication with people living with disabilities. (257-272)
21. Communication with the victims of abuse. (273-290)
22. E-health: use of t technological tools in health communication. (291-307.)