Improving Medical Students’ Communication Skills Through Feedback: Evidence from the Communication Learning Assessment

• In Event: Advancing Professional Competency and Learning

Abstract

Effective physician–patient communication is critical to quality care but difficult to teach early in medical training. This experimental study tested whether combining exemplar-based feedback with guided self-reflection enhances communication skills among 194 pre-clerkship students. Participants were randomly assigned to four conditions varying in exposure to exemplars, self-assessment, and reflection prompts. Across two sessions, students responded to video vignettes targeting two skills: providing understandable, relevant information and responding to patient emotions. Depending on condition, students reviewed exemplars, self-evaluated, and revised their responses. Those engaging with both exemplars and self-assessment showed significantly better communication behaviors than controls. Structured reflection further enhanced within-group improvement. All intervention groups reported higher confidence than controls. These findings support scalable, early interventions in communication training.

Authors

• Anastasiya A. Lipnevich, City University of New York

• Angelo D'Addario, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Thea Musselman, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Krista D. Mattern, National Board of Medical Examiners