Clinical Communication Skills for Medicine

Clinical Communication Skills for Medicine is an essential guide to the core skills for effective patient-centered communication. In the twenty years since this book was first published the teaching of these skills has developed and evolved. Today’s doctors fully appreciate the importance of communicating successfully and sensitively with people receiving health care and those close to them.

This practical guide to developing communication skills will be of value to students throughout their careers. The order of the chapters reflects this development, from core skills to those required to respond effectively and compassionately in challenging situations. The text includes case examples, guidelines and opportunities to encourage the reader to stop and think.

The contents of the book cover:

    The fundamental elements of clinical communication, including skills for effectively gathering and sharing information, discussing sensitive topics and breaking bad news.

    Shared decision making, reflecting the rapid changes in expectations of medical care and skills for supporting patients in making decisions which are right for them.

    Communicating with a patient’s family, children and young people, patients from different cultural backgrounds, communicating via an interpreter and communicating with patients who have a hearing impairment.

    Diversity in communication, including examples of communicating with patients who have a learning disability, transgender patients, and older adult patients.

    Communicating about medical error, emphasising the importance of doctors being honest in the face of difficult situations.

 

Table of Contents:

    Introduction
    Core skills in clinical communication
    Gathering information
    Discussing sensitive topics
    Sharing information
    Shared decision making
    Breaking bad news
    Communicating with a patient’s family
    Communicating with children and young people
    Communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds
    Diversity in communication
    Communicating about medical error

Margaret Lloyd, MD, FRCP, FRCGP, Emeritus Professor of Primary Care and Medical Education, UCL Medical School, University College London, UK; Robert Bor, MA (Clin Psych), DPhil, CPsychol, CSci, FBPsS, FRAeS, UKCP, Reg EuroPsy, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Royal Free Hospital, and Organisational Consultant, London, UK and Lorraine M Noble, BSc, MPhil, PhD, Dip Clin Psychol, AFBPsS, Senior Lecturer, UCL Medical School, University College, London, UK