What is it about?
There are many similarities between a doctor’s communication skills and an actor’s performance abilities: both have a ‘tool-kit’ to call upon, polish and perfect. This implies no lack of authenticity, rather an acknowledgement of the dynamic inherent in the consultation interaction. The doctor adjusts the role intuitively to match each new patient with tact, subtlety and, above all, authenticity. In terms of embodying appropriate communication skills in the consulting room we need to ask ourselves: is the doctor ‘in’ – or ‘out’? Really present, or not? As patients, we will know the answer to this question in seconds.
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Why is it important?
Communication skills are the bed-rock of many life-skills and yet they are often neglected, especially when, as in medicine, one's skill-base demands that one ingests a compendious amount of knowledge - often, to extend the challenge still further - in a second language. Using drama techniques to establish a customised communication skills 'tool-kit' is a unique approach because it asks one to embody, rehearse and continually build on one's interpersonal skills. Medical practitioners are, as a result of adopting this approach, likely to experience a positive step change in the way they interact with their patients.
Perspectives
After over twenty-five years directing theatre and teaching drama in the UK, I work as a one-to-one specialist coach in the South of England for Health Education Wessex, (HEW). Recognising the crucial importance of communication skills for GP's and all medical practitioners alike, HEW commissioned me to design and run my all-day Communication Skills Intensives for International Medical Graduates and UK trainees alike across the UK and here at HEW, my base. I have also delivered ‘Training the Trainers’ workshops and presentations for all experienced GP Trainers at Health Education Wessex and it was from this work that the article 'The Drama of Communication' stemmed. Running tandem to my workshops is my specialist coaching on Communication Skills through Drama Training: practical, bespoke one-to-one sessions which involve experiential exercises to perfect what I term the ‘Heightened Professional Persona’ and ‘The Great Duet’: the latter involving the interplay between face and gesture in professional interactions. This approach is crucial for the interpersonal section of the CSA and all related exams. (The CSA is The Clinical Skills Assessment: the practical medical exam all general practice doctors aiming to work in the UK take at the Royal College of General Practice in London). Equally importantly, well after the exam sequences have all been concluded, I believe that the skills I teach serve to underpin, (as many of my testimonials and recommendations bear out) successful doctor/patient interactions over a long medical career.
Mrs Joanna Murphy
Freelance Communications Skill Specialist
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The drama of communication, The Clinical Teacher, April 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/tct.12514.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Training the Trainers - Communication Skills through Drama Training
A highly engaging 90 minute interactive presentation/workshop on embodied communication skills for GP Trainers. "This was probably the best session in GP Training I have ever been to, (and I have been a Trainer since 1991). The format and delivery of the workshop was just perfect." Dr Mike Barnfield
The Communication Skills Intensive
A dynamic and highly successful six-hour workshop on 'Communication Skills through Drama Training' for international and english speaking medical graduates approaching final practical exams (such as the UK's CSA). “The format was a lot of fun! This was a great day which I thoroughly recommend. I learnt the importance of ‘image’ in interactions with patients.” Domnita Seagu – ST3 - Southampton, UK
One to One Coaching for Communication Skills in GP and Hospital Medicine
I coach UK GP trainees and hospital registrars in the following areas: ➢ Speech issues, (accent-softening, clarity, projection, etc.) ➢ Exam preparation: communication skills – facial expression and gesture, role-play ➢ Building a professional persona: voice and physicality ➢ Presentation Skills ➢ Interview preparation ➢ Nerve Control ➢ Assertiveness I have been permitted to observe the CSA, (the Clinical Skills Assessments, the last practical exam trainee GP’s must take, involving simulated surgeries with role-playing actors) in session at the Royal College of General Practitioners; I am the only non-medical professional in the UK to be permitted to do so. My contact e-mail is joannamurphy77@me.com for further information.
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