A Proof-of-Principle Communication Skills Workshop among Medical Trainees in Jodhpur

Introduction: Patient-Centered Care is a clinical practice concept that uses communication skills to strengthen the patient-provider relationship to optimize patient safety, outcomes, and satisfaction with health care. In India, there are no standard medical education curricula to teach patient-centered care skills. The Patient First Skills Program, hosted by the Asian Centre for Medical Education, Research, and Innovation, conducted a workshop to introduce and demonstrate patient-centered care principles among medical trainees in Jodhpur. Methods: The Patient First leadership facilitated a 3- hour, voluntary, free-of-cost workshop with oversight by Jodhpur-based senior academic faculty and practicing clinicians. Using small group discussions, role play, and faculty-guided peer reflection and feedback, the workshop enabled trainees to practice specific communication skills which would improve their diagnostic capability as well as the patient's experience. Workshop evaluation included pre- and post-workshop administration of the internationally-validated Patient-Provider Orientation Scale (PPOS), which measures the respondent's doctor-centric versus patient-centric orientation by assessing agreement with a set of eighteen statements. Results: Ten medical undergraduate and house-staff trainees participated and uniformly rated the workshop highly on clarity and usefulness for future clinical practice. The PPOS demonstrated a shirt from doctor centric or neutral orientation, pre-workshop, to a more patient centric orientation post-workshop. Conclusion: The Patient First program demonstrated high approval and acceptability among participants, and feasibility to be adapted and integrated with existing medical education programs in India. Future programs will include new modules and topics of training, and continuing use of the PPOS findings to guide the adaptation and definition of Patient-Centered Care training in the Indian context.