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:

  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.)

  1. Doctor-patient consultation. (25-44.)
  2. Promoting lifestyle change: the 5A and 5R methods; the transtheoretical model of behavior change. (47-52 and 58-62.)
  3. Promoting lifestyle change: motivational interviewing. (52-57 and 61-62.)
  4. Communication options for developing health literacy. (65-74.)
  5. Communicating risks of treatments. (77-85.)
  6. Shared decision making. (87-95.)
  7. Suggestive communication in medical practice. (97-107.)

 

Exam topics list „B”

 

  1. Communication with children. (109-118.)
  2. Communication with older people. (109-110 and 118-123.)
  3. Cultural competence of the physician. (127-135.)
  4. Communication with patients using complementary and alternative treatments. (137-146.)
  5. Communication about functional symptoms (149-164.)
  6. Communication with tense, hostile people. (185-196.)
  7. Breaking bad news. (221-237.)
  8. Communication aspects of patient safety. (239-254)
  9. Communication with people living with disabilities. (257-272)
  10. E-health: use of t technological tools in health communication. (291-307.)