Simulation-Based Communication Training – Columbia University

• Recommended for 3-5th year students in the Hungarian/English/German Medicine and for 3-4th year students in the Hungarian/English Nursing programmes. 

• 2 credits, 90 minutes/week 

• Schedule and location: weeks 1-14
  – group 1: Monday 18:15-19:45, 1st lesson: 7 September, 2026
  –  group 2: Wednesday 16:30-18:00, 1st lesson: 9 September, 2026
  –  City Corner Building, Room 320 (3rd floor, Üllői út 25.) 

The aim of the course is to provide linguistic tools for medical and nursing students to prepare them for interactions with patients, relatives and other healthcare professionals through simulation. After the first, introductory class, students will engage in simulated scenarios each week. Following the standards of Columbia University, instructors from both Semmelweis University and Columbia University will guide students through pre-written scenarios with the help of Columbia-trained simulated patients.  With special focus on compassionate communication, the course will cover the linguistic tools necessary for taking patient medical history, delivering bad news, explaining a change in lifestyle and handling emergency situations. Giving feedback and constructive criticism will also be practised during a debriefing session after each simulation. Verbal performances – both during scenarios and feedback-sessions –, and written performances in the form of journals and reflections will serve as the basis for evaluation and linguistic research:  the acquisition and use of linguistic tools to communicate difficult medical issues efficiently by non-native speakers of English might offer an insight into how important language is in healthcare, as well as into how foreign-language teaching of medical professionals could be improved in Hungary. 

Medical and nursing students will be able to select the appropriate linguistic tools to show empathy and compassion towards patients in emotionally charged and delicate medical situations. Students will gain experience in addressing the same medical issue to different personalities, and will be able to verbally handle unexpected reactions of patients. By the end of the course, students will be able to use a number of cohesive devices, give verbal reassurance to and calm patients, explain medical information to patients, adapt to patients’ needs and mood, and describe peer feedback process. 

Broad objectives: 

• addressing the verbal component of giving bad news 

• strengthening a patient-centered approach 

• helping to manage uncertainty 

• enhancing the use of linguistic components of doctor-patient communication 

• gaining confidence during scripted, simulated scenarios 

Syllabus: 

Week 1 “Feedback” – Guest lecture by Anthony Young (CU) on feedback; Language focus: positive language, feedback forms 

Week 2 “Compassionate communication” – Guest lecture by Natalya Pasklinsky (CU) on compassionate communication, language use, establishing trust; Language focus: summarizing, time adverbs, sequencing 

Week 3 “Taking medical history” – Language focus: paraphrase information and questions 

Week 4 “Finding out more” – Language focus: tenses (past and present forms) 

Week 5 “Shared decision-making” – Language focus: eliciting, assertive communication, embedded and direct forms 

Week 6 “Arranging information” – Language focus: organization, structure of speech, transition signals, ordering points, linking adverbs; Guest lecture on breaking bad news 

Week 7 “Patient understanding” – Language focus: repetition (keywords), paraphrasing to avoid being monotonous (synonyms) 

Week 8 “Explanation” – Language focus: synonyms, metaphors, idioms, analogies 

Week 9 “Clarification” – Language focus: speech rhythm, syntax 

Week 10 “Uncertainty” – Language focus: apologizing, embedded structures, that-clauses, ellipsis 

Week 11 “Referral” – Language focus: argumentation, use of adverbs, adapting to a setting in which multiple speakers are involved 

Week 12 “Calming down” – Language focus: types of sentences (declarative-imperative-exclamatory) 

Week 13 “Shared decision-making” – Language focus: intonation, pronunciation 

Week 14 “Debrief” – Summary of the course; Evaluation; Student feedback 

Methods: 
Communicative language teaching (CLT) approach 
Neuro-linguisitic programming (NLP) 
Simulation* 
NCSBN simulation guidelines (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) 
Standardized Patient Scenario (Columbia University School of Nursing) 
INACSL standards (International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning) 
SPIKES protocol for bad news delivery nurse 
Calgary-Cambridge Guide 
PEARLS Debriefing Script (Columbia University) 
Plus/Delta method 
EPSCALE rating scale 
CAT 

*Scenarios will be chosen from a “Simulation Pool”. All scenarios are designed in collaboration with Columbia University, according to Columbia University standards, using Columbia University templates. 

Requirements: 
– 75% attendance 
– 2 simulations – as scheduled 
– weekly journals – 100-150 words summarizing experiences and knowledge gained during class. 
– 1 written reflection after the student’s second simulation 

Instructors: 
Dr. Rausch-Molnár Luca 
Dr. Fritúz Gábor 
Natalya Pasklinsky 
Anthony Young 

• Recommended for 3-5th year students in the Hungarian/English/German Medicine and for 3-4th year students in the Hungarian/English Nursing programmes. 

• 2 credits, 90 minutes/week 

• Schedule and location: weeks 1-14
  –  Wednesday 18:15-19:45, 1st lesson: 9 September, 2026
  –  City Corner Building, Room 320 (3rd floor, Üllői út 25.) 

This course equips international students with the English language proficiency needed to master the communication component of the OSCE exam through simulations. Students will practice all essential English language skills required for effective doctor-patient communication across all
relevant OSCE scenarios. The course is held in cooperation between a language instructor and a communication expert, allowing for both linguistic and communicative supervision.

By the end of the course, participants will be proficient in conducting conversations using the NURSE, SPIKES, SBAR, CALM, and Calgary-Cambridge frameworks. Scenarios will cover intercultural, social, psychiatric, palliative, and critical care contexts, enhancing linguistic strategies for rapport building, compliance, and shared decision-making.

Syllabus
1. English-language skills related to establishing rapport and funnel-style history-taking (e.g. using understandable medical language, paraphrasing patients’ words to demonstrate understanding, and appropriate use of modal verbs to sound polite and non-judgmental).
2. Linguistic strategies for formulating anamnestic questions to gather diagnostically relevant information with empathy. (e.g. the use of connectors to express the logic of the discourse, correct and context-appropriate tense and mode use, and phrases for back-channelling)
3. English language means of explaining diagnostic procedures and examinations. (e.g., lexical simplification, use of passive voice for objectivity, phrases for sequencing and signposting, causeeffect and purpose linking)
4. Linguistic strategies of empathetic diagnostic disclosure. (e.g., use of modality to express uncertainty or possibility, language for emotional alignment, and sentence starters for sequencing information)
5. English-language strategies to support patient compliance. (e.g., simplified, action-oriented instructions, reformulation with the teach-back technique, use of modals and softeners for recommendations, linking advice to patient values using causal connectors, chunking complex
information
6. English-language skills for delivering bad news. (e.g., pre-warning/announcement language phrases, hedging)
7. English skills for persuading patients to make lifestyle changes. (e.g., the use of indirect suggestions and modals, conditional phrasing, use of intensifiers, and cause-and-effect language)
8. Simulation-based practice.
9. Simulation-based practice.
10. Simulation-based practice.
11. Simulation-based practice.
12. Simulation-based practice.
13. Oral test: simulation.
14. Evaluation.

Requirements:
A maximum 3,5 absences are allowed i.e. 7×45 minutes of absence are allowed ; if the number of absences exceeds this, the student may make up (maximum one occasion) in agreement with the instructor.
A student who misses more than 25% of the seminars will not be allowed to get a signature (Study and Examination Regulations §29).
According to the Study and Examination Regulations (§ 28), three tardies count as one absence.
Arriving 15 minutes later than the start of the lesson is considered tardiness.

Instructors:
Dr.Luca Rausch-Molnár
Dr. Barbara Marshall
Anita Sényi
Dr. Tímea Takács
Judit Nagyné Górász
Irina Jurjevna Kovács
Vera Tick
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