| Introduction: It is no secret that finding time to teach clinical communication in the contemporary veterinary medical curriculum is challenging. Territoriality, content expansion, and resistance to change create an environment which negatively impacts the creation or enhancement of clinical communication active learning opportunities. Objective: Describe creative approaches to integrate communication into the formal and informal curriculum by identifying early adopters and creating win-win solutions. Methods: This presentation will focus on describing how one program has expanded students’ exposure to communication skills in multiple contexts through opportunistic placement of learning opportunities. Findings: Integrating clinical communication into courses and laboratories, such as Principles of Surgery, Anesthesia, and Clinical Problem Solving in Populations, as well as clinical rotations such as Disaster Management and Preparedness and Emergency and Critical Care augment the clinical communication formal curriculum. It is vital to create win-win solutions for potential faculty collaborators and to be willing to support their potential discomfort in approaching instruction using experiential methods. Collaboration with willing faculty allows for a greater impact of communication training. Discussion: Most DVM programs have limited time in which to deliver communication training. Identifying faculty with an interest in communication who are willing to engage in creative thinking about how to deliver content can provide additional opportunities for students to develop stronger communication skills. Simulations that highlight communication within the specific content area may even help students contextualize communication training more completely, for instance understanding the importance of team communication in surgery. Author:
CARY, Julie* Clinical Communication Program, Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Pullman WA, USA |