Suroshree Mitra

Abstract

Context: An effective doctor-patient relationship helps increasing patient’s compliance with the treatment, thereby improving his physical, functional and emotional status. Communication not only helps in creating a good inter-personal relationship and exchanging information but also in making treatment-related decisions. Physiotherapy interventions rely on a complex interplay of technical skill, communicative ability, and reflective capacity of the therapist to respond to the patient. It has been observed that the important aspect of communication, is often neglected due to time constraints within the curriculum. Also in India, the availability of structured guidelines to teach communication skills to medical professionals is an underresearched topic. The present study investigated the effectiveness of SEGUE framework (Set the stage, Elicit information, Give information, Understand the patient’s perspective, End the encounter) for teaching communication skills in physiotherapy students. Aims: To study the effect of SEGUE framework on the communication skills of Physiotherapy students. Materials and Methods: Physiotherapy students(n=80) were assessed for their communication skills by the Likert responses of their patients to a self-structured patient feedback form. SEGUE Framework was taught to these students. The post-intervention assessment was carried out similarly. Results: There was a significant improvement in the patient responses post-intervention. Conclusion: We conclude that SEGUE Framework is effective in teaching communication skills in physiotherapy students. Keywords: Communication skills, Doctor-patient relationship, Physiotherapy education, Physiotherapy students, SEGUE framework.

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