Medical Communication

2023/2024 – 1st year

Medical communication course code:AOKMAG670_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.

Semester: 2023/24  I.

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.  .

 Course text book (to be used for preparing for the exam):

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.

Complementary teaching materials to be used for the preparation of the practices/seminars and the exam are available in the Moodle ( https://itc.semmelweis.hu/moodle/ )

Other recommended text books:
Washer, P. (2009): Clinical Communication Skills. (Oxford Core texts). Oxford University Press.
McCorry, L.K. & Mason, J. (2011): Communication skills for the healthcare professionals. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore
Tamparo, C.D & Lindh, W.Q (2017): Therapeutic communication for health care professionals. Cengage Learning, Boston
Hugman,. B. (2009): Healthcare communication. Pharmaceutical Press, London

 COURSE SYLLABUS

 LECTURES: Week 1-7

Time: Tuesdays 13:00-14:30
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): Breaking Bad News. Disclosing Medical Errors. (János Kollár)
Week 3. (September 19): Promoting behavior change. The development of the patient-physician collaboration (Adrienne Stauder)
Week 4. (September 26): The specialties of age in medical communication. (Kinga Babonits-Farkas)
Week 5. (October 3): Communication about functional complaints (Adrienne Stauder)
Week 6. (October 10): Suggestive communication in medical practice. (János Kollár)
Week 7. (October 17): Telemedicine, E-health. (Kinga Babonits-Farkas)

 

SEMINARS:  Week 8-14  (see times, venues and teachers at the bottom)

Week 8.  Seminar. Communication in everyday life and in the medical practice.

Week 9. :  Seminar. The active listening. Communication aspects in empathy.

Week 10.: Patient information, patient education.

Week 11. :  Seminar. Promoting lifestyle change. suggestive communication techniques, motivational interview, shared decision-making.

Week 12. : Seminar. Communicating bad news (practice). Communicating with depressed patients. Recognizing the risk of suicide.

Week 13.: Seminar. Communication with tense, hostile patients, strategies to prevent violence. Communicating about intimate issues.

Week 14.: Seminar. The cultural competence of the doctor. Communicating about complementary and alternative therapies.

Exam period: December 11, 2023 – February 9, 2024

Requirements for the signature at the end of the semester:

A signature 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!).

Type of the exam: oral

Method of the calculation of marks: performance on the oral exam.

Requirements for the exam: The oral exam is based on the course text book (Pilling, János: Medical Communication in practice. Medicina, Budapest, 2020.) and the lectures; lecture recordings and handouts will be posted in the Moodle.

Exam topics: (see Exam topics list “A” and “B” among the next tabs)

 

Application and changing the application for the exam: Through the Neptun system.

Seminars and course schedule

EM1 – Group 1
Thursday  12:30-14:00; NET-SZ.01
Teacher: Péter Ujma

EM1 – Group 2
Friday  11:30-13:00; GMFEOK-SZEM-2
Teacher: Mónika Sándor

EM1 – Group 3
Friday  11:30-13:00; NET-SZ.08
Teacher: Karolina Szabó

EM1 – Group 4
Friday  11:45-13:15; NET-SZ.04
Teacher: Mária Bényi

EM1 – Group 5
Friday  09:45-11:15; GMFEOK-SZEM-2
Teacher: Mónika Sándor

EM1 – Group 6
Thursday  09:45-11:15; NET-SZ.06
Teacher: Éva Kozlovsky

EM1 – Group 7
Monday  08:00-09:30; NET-SZ.07
Teacher: Tamás Szalai

EM1 – Group 8
Friday  11:30-13:00; NET-SZ.01
Teacher: László Lajtai

EM1 – Group 9
Wednesday  15:45-17:15; NET-SZ.08
Teacher: Karolina Szabó

EM1 – Group 10
Monday  09:45-11:15; NET-SZ.10
Teacher: Zsófia Hídvégi

EM1 – Group 11
Monday  09:45-11:15; NET-SZ.09
Teacher: Johanna Deák

EM1 – Group 12
Wednesday  10.00-11.30; NET-SZ.08
Teacher: Benjámin Fogas

EM1 – Group 13
Thursday  14:15-15:45; NET-SZ.01
Teacher: Péter Ujma

EM1 – Group 14
Friday  13:45-15:15; NET-SZ.04
Teacher: Mária Bényi

EM1 – Group 15
Thursday  12:30-14:00; NET-SZ.04
Teacher: Éva Kozlovsky

EM1 – Group 16
Wednesday  15:15-16:45; NET-SZ.10
Teacher: Mónika Sándor

EM1 – Group 17
Wednesday  10.00-11.30; NET-SZ.10
Teacher: Tamás Szalai

EM1 – Group 18
Monday  08:00-09:30; NET-SZ.09
Teacher: Johanna Deák

EM1 – Group 19
Monday  08:00-09:30; NET-SZ.05
Teacher: Zsófia Hídvégi

EM1 – Group 20
Monday  14:00-15:30; NET-SZ.07
Teacher: Karolina Szabó

EM1 – Group 21
Thursday  09:45-11:15; GMFEOK-SZEM-6
Teacher: János Kollár

EM1 – Group 22
Thursday  11:30-13:00; GMFEOK-SZEM-6
Teacher: János Kollár

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

Lajtai László
lajtai.laszlo[at]med.semmelweis-univ.hu

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: Week 1-7

Time: Tuesdays 13:00-14:30
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): Breaking Bad News. Disclosing Medical Errors. (János Kollár)
Week 3. (September 19): Promoting behavior change. The development of the patient-physician collaboration (Adrienne Stauder)
Week 4. (September 26): The specialties of age in medical communication. (Kinga Babonits-Farkas)
Week 5. (October 3): Communication about functional complaints (Adrienne Stauder)
Week 6. (October 10): Suggestive communication in medical practice. (János Kollár)
Week 7. (October 17): Telemedicine, E-health. (Kinga Babonits-Farkas)

 

Exam topics list “A”:

1. The significance of medical communication. Misconceptions and facts about medical communication.
2. Doctor-patient consultation.
3. Promoting lifestyle change: the 5A and 5R methods; the transtheoretical model of behavior change.
4. Promoting lifestyle change: motivational interviewing.
5. Communication options for developing health literacy.
6. Communicating risks of treatments.
7. Shared decision making.
8. Suggestive communication in medical practice.
9. Communication with children.
10. Communication with older people. Communication with elderly having age-related mental disorders.
11. Cultural competence of the physician.

 

Exam topics list „B”

12. Communication about functional symptoms
13. Communication with patients using complementary and alternative treatments.
14. Communicating about intimate issues.
15. Communication with tense, hostile people.
16. Communication with depressed patients. Recognizing the risk of suicide.
17. Communication with patients having anxiety symptoms or addictions.
18. Breaking bad news.
19. Communication aspects of patient safety.
20. Communication with people living with disabilities.
21. Communication with the victims of abuse.
22. E-health: use of t technological tools in health communication.