Teaching consultation skills in higher specialist training: experience of a workshop for specialist registrars in rheumatology

Objectives. To design, implement and evaluate an initial communication skills workshop for higher specialist trainees in rheumatology, and to determine their prior experience of and attitude towards such training. Methods. The setting for this study was a rheumatology specialist registrar study day in the West Midlands region of the UK. The workshop was jointly facilitated by a hospital specialist and a general practitioner educationist, providing both the credibility of subject expertise and experience of teaching consultation skills to groups of doctors. Simple, structured observations of pre-recorded consultations and simulations, based on scenarios from within the specialist field, were used. Results. There was strong agreement amongst the trainees that the workshop was enjoyable and useful, that prior training and experience in this area was inadequate, and that it is feasible and important to develop the communication skills of hospital specialists. Conclusions. Undergraduate teaching in communication skills has been inadequate in the past and it receives little or no attention in most specialist training. There is a compelling argument for the inclusion of communication skills teaching in higher medical training within rheumatology. More work is required to research the optimum methods of delivering teaching in this area in a postgraduate setting, and to assess the impact of communication skills teaching on clinical practice.