Training Oncology Faculty to Teach Communication Skills

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is ample evidence in the literature that well-meaning oncologists fail to communicate adequately in ways that increase patient suffering, and decrease symptom control. Yet many oncologists have suboptimal communication skills because they have never received effective training. In previous work funded by the National Cancer Institute, we designed and implemented a successful and efficacious program to teach communication skills to Medical Oncology fellows, called Oncotalk (R25 92055). A major barrier to further dissemination of communication skills training is lack of faculty expertise in faculty skills needed to teach communication. A substantial gap exists between the need for oncology faculty with expertise in teaching communication skills, and the availability of faculty who have these teaching skills. In this proposal, we address this gap in educational expertise with a unique intervention, which we call Oncotalk Faculty Development, designed to give Medical Oncology faculty a new set of educational skills that will enable them to teach communication effectively. The Oncotalk Faculty Development program will create capacity to teach communication in oncology training programs by training 96 oncology faculty at 48- 60 medical oncology programs to develop or improve communication skills training for oncology fellows that meets requirements specified by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. Oncotalk alumni and oncology programs directors at leading programs are highly supportive of this proposal. Specific Aim 1: To develop a portable curriculum to improve the ability of Medical Oncology faculty to teach communication skills. Specific Aim 2: To implement a year-long faculty development program for Medical Oncology faculty focusing on teaching communication skills. Specific Aim 3: To evaluate the outcomes of Oncotalk Faculty Development on: faculty teaching behaviors, development of communication skills education programs at home institutions for fellows, and the quality of communication education as rated by Oncology fellows. Our revised proposal represents an empirical, evidence-based approach by an accomplished investigator team with a unique group of interested participants created by the original Oncotalk program.