Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine

Suzanne Kurtz, Juliet Draper, Jonathan Silverman

• Introduction. The 'why' - a rationale for communication skills teaching and learning. The 'what' - defining what we are trying to teach. The 'how' - principles of how to teach communication skills. Choosing and using appropriate teaching methods. Analysing communication skills and giving feedback in experiential teaching sessions. Running a session: facilitating communication skills teaching in different learning contexts. Running a session: facilitating tools to maximise participation and learning. Introducing research, and theory: expanding and consolidating learning. Principles of designing communication skills curricula. Specific issues of curriculum design at different levels of medical education. Assessing learners' communication skills. Enhancing facilitator development. Constructing a curriculum: the wider context.

'All medical educators could benefit from this volume and all should read it'Frederic W Platt in his Foreword 'These books have quickly found a global readership, and now there are second editions of both books. The updating of the literature alone would have made these new editions welcome, but the authors have gone further. These books are small investment for a potentially large improvement'Jan van Dalen in his Foreword