A brief overview of the day-to-day challenges imposed on the teaching of communication skills to medical students by globalisation

1. COMMUNICATION SKILLS
T H E D A Y T O D A Y C H A L L E N G E S I M P O S E D O N
M E D I C A L E D U C A T I O N B Y G L O B A L I S A T I O N
Liz Wyatt
HMO Western Health
(EDGH 961 Assignment 3)

2. OVERVIEW
Globalisation and medical education
What are the challenges?
How do they affect our teaching daily?
Evaluation and reflection of
*teaching of communication skills
*assessment of communication skills
Suggested implementations
Questions
References

3. “The increasingly global economy is driving an increasingly global society”
Çel¡k & Gömeles¡z, 2000, p. 136

4. GLOBALISATION AND EDUCATION
Globalisation
-political
-economical
-cultural
Rapidly evolving society
 Internationalisation of curriculum
 Ability to share knowledge and ideas
 Increasing partnerships and collaborations
Çel¡k & Gömeles¡z, 2000
Barkemeyer & Kunzl 2011

5. CHALLENGES?

6. RAPIDLY EVOLVING FIELD
 Rapidly changing and ever evolving field of knowledge
 Must ensure curriculum and teaching structure is current
 Enable flexibility
CHALLENGES Dobre, 2015
Lewis, Benjamin, Juda & Marcella,
2008

7. PRESENT AND FUTURE BENEFITS
 Must teach for what junior staff may encounter in the future, not just
current expectations
 Societal pressures on universities to be innovative and creative
 Encourage lifelong learning and establishment of community of practice
 Students resistance to change, underlying inability to appreciate
acquisition of knowledge for future learning in addition to current need
Çel¡k & Gömeles¡z, 2000
Imel, 2001
O’Donnell & Tobbell, 2007
CHALLENGES

8. INSTITUTING INNOVATIVE CHANGE
 Universities in general are resistant to change
 Many external influences and expectations upon universities- political and social,
these are often filtered by higher organisational powers so that students are not
affected by them
 Universities changing due to student demands, changing for the market
 Demand for Medical degrees is always quite high so not as much reflection of
course, need for change and improvement
 Curriculum change is slow due to necessary processes
 Widespread sharing of information online, between students locally but
internationally
 Almost any resource available online
 High risk of student non-attendance if subject resources are not engagingGilley, Gilley, & McMillan, 2009
Dobre, 2015
Kemp & Norton, 2014CHALLENGES

9. CHALLENGES Dobre, 2015

10. POPULATION DIVERSITY
 In 2012, 25% of Australia’s population were born out of Australia
 Medical schools in Australia are very reflective socially of this cultural
and linguistic diversity
 English is now first language in > 100 countries
 Expected use of English in communication skills classes
 Differing cultural norms and expectations within different cultures
CHALLENGES
Census reveals one in four Australian’s is born overseas, 2012
Marginson, 2011

11. COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Good communication skills for health professionals are vital
Used daily within colleagues, patients, peers
Verbal and non verbal
Integral for sense of professionalism
Not just an intuitive skill, can be taught
Wang, Liang, Blazeck & Greene, 2015
Mueller, 2015
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz, 2015

12. TEACHING OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Often very theoretical, little use of technology
Educators not dedicated to teaching
Not enough emphasis on developing communication skills of practitioners
with English as their second language
No explict focus on cultural awareness
Not prioritised by university hierachy
Taught separately from actual clinical situations
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz,
2015

13. WHAT TO DO?
Experiential learning
 Role play
 Simulated patients
 Observation of self and others
 Involvement of all students
 Students expecting- ‘better value for money’ teaching
 Teach contextually
COMMUNICATION SKILLS- TEACHING
Andresen, Boud& Cohen, 2000
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz,
2015
Mills, Dalleywater & Tischler, 2014

14. WHAT TO DO
Form communities of practice- teachers of communication skills
Faculty development in the workplace
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz, 2015
COMMUNICATION SKILLS-
TEACHING

15. WHAT TO DO?
Ask for more training- can be sourced online, using pre-existing resources
Encourage faculty to provide adequate training for educators
Convince faculty members that communication skills training is needed to
attempt to get more funding
Keep communication skills at front of mind all the time, attempt to always
be a role model
COMMUNICATION SKILLS- TEACHING
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz, 2015

16. WHAT TO DO
Develop, update and use online modules for teaching
Share resources
Saint-Dizier de Almeida & Agnoletti, 2015
COMMUNICATION SKILLS-
TEACHING

17. ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Inherently subjective
Must be outcome based but difficulty with term ‘competency’
Required to fulfil university’s benchmarks
Society’s expectations of healthcare professionals
Robertson & Blacker, 2006
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz, 2015
Dobre, 2015

18. WHAT TO DO?
Clarity and transperency from the start- validates value and legitimacy
Clear outcomes
Multi-source assessment
Direct observed encounters- record learners
Incorporating student mindfulness and emphasising self reflection
COMMUNICATION SKILLS-ASSESSMENT
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz, 2015
Wang, Liang, Blazeck & Greene, 2015

19. SUMMARY
Many of the challenges of globalisation on clinical skills affect higher
organisational level as opposed to ones day to day teaching
However underpinning all of medical education is external societal and
governmental pressures on universities so the importance of them must
be appreciated and reflected upon daily in teaching
Greater use of technology, embracing cultural diversity within classrooms
and ensuring current, flexible curriculum are responsibilities of the
everyday teachers of communication skills, not just faculty members
Perron, Sommer, Louis-Simone & Nendaz, 2015

20. QUESTIONS?
ejsw998@uowmail.edu.au
elizabeth.wyatt@wh.org.au
Liz Wyatt
0416 348 675

21. REFERENCES (1)
Andresen, L., Boud, D., & Cohen, R. (2000). Experience-based Learning. Chapter published in Foley, G. (Ed.). Understanding
Adult Education and Training. Second edition. Pp. 225-239. Retrieved from http://complexworld.pbworks.com/f/Experience-
based%20learning.pdf
Çel¡k, V., & Gömeles¡z, M. N. (2000) A Crticial Examination of Globalisation and its effects on Education. Firat University Journal
of Social Science. Retrieved from http://web.firat.edu.tr/sosyalbil/dergi/arsiv/cilt10/sayi2/133-144.pdf
Dobre, I. (2015). A brief overview of the today factors impacting the quality of students learning in higher education
organisations. The 11th International Scientific Conference for eLearning and Software Educations. DOI: 10.12753/2066-
026X-15-183
Gilley, A., Gilley, J., & McMillan, H. (2009). Organization Change: Motivation, Communication, and Leadership Effectiveness.
Performance Improvement Quality. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/docview/218517376/fulltextPDF/DFB90C92BC72413BPQ/1?accountid=1511
2
Imel, S. (2001). Learning Communities/Communities of Practice. ACVE. Retrieved from
https://moodle.uowplatform.edu.au/pluginfile.php/292556/mod_book/chapter/16306/Imel%202001.htm
Kemp, D., & Norton, A. (2014). Review of the Demand Driven Funding System. Retrieved from
https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review_of_the_demand_driven_funding_system_report_for_the_webs
ite.pdf
Lewis, N., Benjamin, W. K., Juda, N., & Marcella, M. (2008). Universities as learning organizations: Implications and challenges.
Educational Research and Review. https://tr.uow.edu.au/uow/file/b8f41ad1-9c27-43fd-9e6e-baea7e7b2a08/1/lewis.pdf
Marginson, S. (2011). Global context of education and the role of education in Australia. Centre for the study of higher
education. Retrieved from http://www.lhmartininstitute.edu.au/userfiles/files/aei_symposium/marginson_global_paper.pdf

22. REFERENCES (2)
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Mueller, P. (2015). Teaching and Assessing Professionalism in Medical Learners and Practicing Physicians. Rambam Maimonides
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O’Donnell, V., & Tobbell, J. (2007). The Transition of Adult Students to Higher Education: Legitimate Peripheral Participation in a
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Saint-Dizier de Almeida, V., & Agnoletti, M. F. (2015). Impact of online training on delivering a difficult medical diagnosis: Acquiring
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Wang, W., Liang, Z., Blazeck, A., & Greene, B. (2015). Improving Chinese nursing students’ communication skills by utilizing video-
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