Abstract:

Existing Federal State Educational Guidelines refocus the overall aim of the postgraduate course at medical high schools in the Russian Federation from clinical practice to the academic sphere. The key labor market for the future PhDs in medicine is a medical educational system and field of scientific research and cooperation, which requires specific competences and skills to be developed. Specificity of future PhDs’ competencies is determined by their novelty for the PhD course: the 1st and 2nd cycles of Russian medical high schools fulfill the needs of healthcare and prepare the students for solving professional tasks in doctor-to-patient interaction.

Having analysed the Communication Competence framework, Russian medical HEIs curricula and syllabi, we identified 3 basic communication skills to be developed for future PhDs to make them competitive in domestic and overseas academic community. They are: Oral presentation, Written presentation and Classroom training.

Medical postgraduate course curriculum involves only one discipline that is capable of contributing into the communication competence development, that is “Foreign Language”. Traditionally the discipline is quite limited in contact hours (only 48 per study-program) but has a large number of hours devoted to self-directed study (96 hours). These two facts drove us to the creation of integrated methodology for communication competence development that would boost the efficiency of learning process, motivate PhD course students for life-long education and switch the traditional purposes of the Foreign Language course to adapting postgraduates to their future occupation.
The proposed integrated methodology qualitatively improves two aspects of learning process:
(1) implements a communication course in blended learning environment and
(2) develops communication skills and personal traits of a future academic and researcher through motivation to continuous education.

The blended learning environment is created through the use of flipped classroom and scenario-based approaches to organization of learning activities. Virtual communication scenarios with a set of online assignments prepare students to practicing their communication skills during contact hours. Traditional function of teacher is minimised during flipped classroom activities, which brings postgraduates to a responsible attitude to their self-development, activates self-control and aspiration to accuracy in their verbal interaction.

The quality survey was carried out to obtain and analyse outcomes of integrated methodology for understanding the appropriateness of the learning methods chosen for the delivery of communication course to postgraduates. During the experiment we assessed the dynamics of communication skills development and efficiency of students’ performance at each contact hour session and while doing online assignments to minimize possible failures of learning techniques used. At the end of the course implementation the level of postgraduates’ satisfaction and motivation to long-life learning was measured.

Positive outcomes of the communication skills development course for postgraduates might be a driver to introduction of the proposed integrated methodology into 1st and 2nd cycles to prepare students for doctor-to-patient communication.

Keywords:

Communication skills, integrated methodology, medical postgraduates.