A few weeks ago, I was giving a day-long seminar in California on improving communication skills, optimizing the patient experience, and how this is all ultimately linked to better proven outcomes. Part of the day involved doing role plays, playing the part of doctors and patients in various difficult hypothetical scenarios.
My experience of this type of group exercise is that all clinicians usually really enjoy it, when it’s done in a relaxed and informal environment, and are very interested to hear feedback on their performance (better still, video the encounter and play it back to the physician — although I didn’t on this occasion). It’s great to see seasoned professionals do this, and barring only a tiny minority of the more “stubborn” individuals (yes, they exist in every field!), nearly everyone is very receptive to observation and advice. Of course, anybody who is doing an exercise like this in a controlled environment, will always be on their very best behavior. Whether or not that’s how they really do things in clinical practice (or have the time to do things) is another matter. But as long as anyone is simply aware of what the “ideal” interaction involves — that’s a huge first step.
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