Does Responding to Emotional Cues Influence Medical Student’s Clinical Communication Performance in Qualifying Exams?

Objective: Despite evidence linking effective doctor-patient communication to positive patient outcomes, few studies have explored the relationship between medical students’ clinical communication ratings in qualifying exams and how they respond to emotion in those simulated exams. Using a reliable and valid micro-coding tool, the objective of the study is to explore the relationship between medical student’s responsiveness to emotional cues and their clinical communication examiner ratings.
Methods: Within the simulated exam setting, a cross-sectional study design explored the relationship between medical student’s clinical communication examiner ratings and their responsiveness to simulated patient (SP) emotional cues. Students clinical communication examiner ratings were collected. Medical students were also filmed to micro-code their responsiveness to SP emotional cues with the Verona Consensus Coding Scheme (VR-CoDES).
Results: For the sample of 37 medical students, a significant positive correlation with a strong effect (r = 0.51, p =.001) was found between medical student’s clinical communication examiner ratings and their responsiveness to emotional cues. Statistical analysis found that the sample of 37 medical students was representative of the larger medical school cohort (n= 518) in terms of gender and age.
Conclusion: Clinical communication examiner ratings in qualifying exams could differentiate between students who adopted patient-centred facilitative behaviours (responding to emotion) and those who did not. Future research is required to explore the relationship between medical student’s clinical communication performance in qualifying exams and their responsiveness to patient emotional cues in the clinical setting.
Practical implication: Given replication of findings, medical students should be taught and assessed on clinical communication largely consistent with the current curriculum. Medical students should also be provided with training opportunities (such as video footage) to increase emotional cue-recognition and responsiveness.
Keywords: medical students, clinical communication, emotional cues
References
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