Communication Skills Training and Assessment: Providers

Communication with health care providers is perhaps the main determinant of how patients perceive their health care experiences. Moreover, team communication is a major factor in the quality, safety, and coordination of care. Yet different disciplines (e.g., medicine, nursing, pharmacy) place varying levels of emphasis on teaching and assessing the communication skills of both learners and practitioners. The focus on formal communication training is now strongest in medicine, with relevant training and assessment spanning undergraduate medical education (i.e., medical school), graduate medical education (i.e., residency), and continuing medical education (i.e., maintenance of certification for practice). At all of these levels, training and assessment often encompass basic interpersonal and communication skills as well as advanced skills such as delivering bad news.