Objectives: Acquiring communication and interpersonal skills is an important part of providing patient-centered care and improving patient satisfaction. This study explores whether residents' own values about patient communication can be influenced by training.
Methods: As part of service excellence, a three-hour communication skills training in AIDET™ (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, Thank You) was delivered to first and second Post-Graduate Year (PGY) residents (n = 123). A survey was designed to measure the value of patient communication and administered pre/post communication skills training.
Results: Residents' scores about communication values improved significantly for all areas pre- to post-training for patient communication skills (p<0.04). After training, there was little difference by medical specialty, other than surgical specialties, which showed the greatest increase in valuing requesting permission (p=0.034). Gender was also not associated with differences in values, except men showed a greater increase in valuing sitting down (p=0.021) and introductions (p=0.005) than women who already valued these specific behaviors prior to training.
Conclusions: Residents value communication, and AIDET™ training is a useful tool to increase the values of good communication and interpersonal skills to enhance service excellence.
Keywords: AIDET™; communication; skills training; values.