Towards patient-centred communication: an observational study of supervised audiology student-patient hearing assessments.

OBJECTIVE: This study has two interconnected aims. The first was to better understand how audiology students co-construct hearing assessments with patients while supervised by a clinical educator. The second was to investigate how students' communication aligns with principles of patient-centred communication.

STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty-three final year audiology students from two Australian universities participated in the study.

RESULTS: The supervised student-patient hearing appointments were video-recorded and transcribed. Genre analysis, a form of discourse analysis, was carried out to identify the structure and communication patterns. The six-function model of medical communication was adopted as an analytical framework to map students' patient-centred communication. The findings showed generic structure of the hearing assessments were the main stages of taking a history, providing a diagnosis, and initiating management plans. For patient-centred communication functions, students demonstrated their ability to foster the relationship and gather information. The communication functions of decision-making, enablement, and responding to patients' emotions were rarely observed. A significant relationship was found between clinical educators' interjection as a function of students' patient-centred communication tendencies.

CONCLUSION: To enhance students' patient-centred communication, teaching should include explaining and planning as well as addressing additional aspects of patient-centred communication. Support of clinical educators is needed to optimise students' communication skills learning.