Developing Disability Advocates Through Deliberate Inter-Professional Conversations Regarding Quality of Life After Stroke.

OBJECTIVE: Stroke can result in significant mental and physical impairment. Training healthcare professionals on effective strategies for mitigating stroke-related quality-of-life issues is crucial in facilitating comprehensive stroke management. This study aims to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional education (IPE) experience on students' attitudes regarding post-stroke disability. METHODS: In this pre-post interventional study, pharmacy and medical students received an electronic patient chart and a store-and-forward video depicting physical and cognitive impairment in a stroke patient. Students were instructed to discuss the acute management and post-discharge needs of the patient from an advocacy perspective. After the IPE experience, students completed the student perceptions of interprofessional clinical education-revised instrument (SPICE-R2) and an unvalidated disability attitudes survey. The surveys were analyzed using a paired t-test. Additionally, students reflected on the prompt, "What are some things you had NOT considered prior to this IPE?". RESULTS: Seven hundred and eight students completed the surveys. Post-IPE, there was a significant improvement in all domains of the SPICE-R2. On the disability survey, there was significant improvement on all statements, including rate your comfort with; 1.) discussing the expected disabilities associated with new-onset stroke and 2.) discussing strategies for improving the quality of life of a patient who has long term disabilities. On the self-reflections, 31.7% (N=211) had not considered the need for post-stroke care services prior to this IPE. CONCLUSION: This IPE experience was instrumental in improving student perspectives regarding post-stroke disability.

The 7 Elements Communication Rating Form for Teaching and Assessing Medical Communication Competency.

INTRODUCTION: Medical communication skills are a critical component of clinical medicine and patient satisfaction. Communication skills are difficult to teach and evaluate, necessitating tools that are effective and efficient. This study presents and validates the 7 Elements Communication Rating Form (7E-CRF), a streamlined, dual-purpose, evidence-based medical communication checklist that functions as a teaching and assessment tool. METHOD: A 14-item teaching and assessment tool is described and validated using face, concurrent, and predictive validity indices. The study was conducted with 661 medical students from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM). Student performance was assessed in year 1 labs, year 2 labs, and year 2 and year 3 objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). These internal indices were compared with student performance on the Humanistic Domain of the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX) Level 2-Performance Evaluation (PE), a licensure exam previously taken in years 3 or 4 of osteopathic medical schools. RESULTS: The evidence of interrater reliability and predictive validity is strong. Data from the 7E-CRF is compared to performance on the COMLEX Level 2-PE, Humanistic Domain. The 7E-CRF can identify students who are at a 10-fold increased risk of failure on the COMLEX Level 2-PE Humanistic Domain.  Conclusions: The 7E-CRF integrates instruction and assessment, based on a national and international model. The simplicity, foundation in professional consensus, ease of use, and predictive efficacy make the 7E-CRF a highly valuable instrument for medical schools in teaching and evaluating competency in medical communication skills.