This qualitative study investigates the subject of Clinical Communication and how it is taught, learned and practised in one London Medical School and Hospital. It is informed by theoretical perspectives from workplace learning and in particular the theoretical construct of Recontextualisation. Five clinical communication teachers and five fourth year medical students took part in a series of semi structured interviews and ward observations over a period of four months. Teachers were interviewed about their teaching practice, they were asked to observe students in the clinical workplace and finally were asked to reflect upon whether these observations had informed their teaching practice. Students were interviewed about how they had learned and subsequently practised clinical communication in the clinical workplace. In total fifteen interviews and nine ward observations were carried out and nine reflective accounts were collected. Data from the interviews and observations were analysed using Responsive Interviewing Analysis. Results suggest that teachers wished to develop a more authentic and integrated teaching practice focused on the clinical workplace and wanted to go beyond the traditional notion of clinical communication as 'skills' based only. Students seemed able to apply the clinical communication skills they had been previously taught to the clinical workplace, but the patient centred philosophy underpinning these was lost and was also not reflected in the clinical workplace culture. Conceptually, the research shifts focus to the clinical workplace as the legitimate location for teaching and learning clinical communication and proposes a new and expanded way of understanding learning in this context. Significant implications for discussion are raised about the theoretical stance taken by the clinical communication community of practice and the way in which it understands and articulates fundamental beliefs about clinical communication.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:572975 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Brown, Joanne |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020802/ |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds