Abstract:

Introduction:
The simulation patient and video have been used by several authors as useful tools to facilitate to enhance communication skills in Physical Therapy (Virta & Eriksson, 2008; Parry & Brown, 2009). The aim of the present study is to use those tools to assess basic communication skills in the clinical interview of physiotherapist students.

Methods: 65 last year physiotherapy’s students from Rovira i Virgili University agreed to participate in the present study during 2008 but only 20 of them satisfied the inclusion criteria. The clinical case used in this study dealt with mechanical low back pain. It was first elaborated by an expert committee and the actor was trained in the case simulation by an expert in communication skills. Each student met the simulated patient for about 20 minutes to conduct the clinical interview. During this time they should perform the anamnesis, the neuromusculoskeletal examination and they were encouraged to plan and explain the treatment. The clinical interview was recorded with 2 cameras (Sony's Handycam®). Communication skills, shown in the interview, were evaluated by two independent observers through video analyzing and through the ‘Conectar, Identificar y Comprender, Acordar y Ayudar‘ (CICAA) Questionnaire from Ruíz-Moral et al. (2006). To assess the student perception about the received training in communication skills we used a semi-structured survey.

Results: The sample consisted of 90% of women and 10% of men. Their mean age was 23 years (SD 2,62). Student’s communications skills were below average, according to CICCA questionnaire score, without differences between observers. The reliability of each item was 0.927 (95%CI, 0.872-0.966) for the first observer and 0.939 (95%CI, 0.885-0.972) for the second one (Cronbach alpha coefficient).The level of correlation for each item, assessed through Spearman rank of correlation coefficient, related to the total (29 items) was predominantly acceptable for both observers. Six items out of 29 were not acceptable for observer one and nine out of 29 were no acceptable for the second observer. 35% of the students stated that they didn’t learn communication skills during their university education in front of 65% that declared they did. Among those who stated having learned communication skills, 90% of them perceived that the training was mostly theoretical.

Conclusion: the coordinated use of the simulated patient, video watching and CICAA questionnaire is useful for communication skills assessment in the clinical interview of physiotherapy. Communication skills of physiotherapy students were below the average and proved little practical training throughout degree in physical therapy. Students’ perception pointed out that we must include more specific methods in order to stress practical training of communication skills.

Keywords:

Communication skills assessment, clinical interview, physiotherapy education, simulated patient, video.