Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA; Geriatric Research, Education & Clinical Center, James J. Peters Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, New York, USA.
J Pain Symptom Manage. 2021 Sep;62(3):e206-e212. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.02.024. Epub 2021 Feb 22.
High quality communication is essential to older adults' medical decision-making, quality of life, and adjustment to serious illness. Studies have demonstrated that Geritalk, a two day (16 hours total) in-person communication skills training improves self-assessed preparedness, skill acquisition, and sustained practice of communication skills. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Geritalk was adapted to a virtual format (four days, 10 hours total).
Our study evaluated the change in participants' self-assessed preparedness for serious illness communication before and after the virtual course and satisfaction with the course, and compared these findings to responses from a prior in-person Geritalk course.
Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine fellows at three urban academic medical centers completed surveys, which employed five-point Likert scales, before and after the virtual course to assess satisfaction with the course and preparedness for serious illness communication.
Of the 20 virtual Geritalk participants, 17 (85%) completed the pre-course assessment, and 14 (70%) completed the post-course assessment. Overall, satisfaction with the course was high (mean 4.9 on a 5-point scale). Compared to in-person Geritalk participants, virtual course participants reported comparable and significant (P < 0.01) improvements in mean self-reported preparedness across all surveyed communication skills.
We show that a virtual communication skills training is feasible and effective. Our findings suggest that the innovative virtual Geritalk course has the potential to increase access to communication skills training, improve serious illness communication skills, and in improve the quality of care received by older adults with serious illness.
高质量的沟通对于老年人的医疗决策、生活质量和对严重疾病的适应至关重要。研究表明，为期两天（共 16 小时）的面对面沟通技巧培训 Geritalk 可以提高自我评估的准备情况、技能获取和沟通技巧的持续实践。由于 COVID-19 大流行，Geritalk 已适应虚拟格式（共四天，总计 10 小时）。
我们的研究评估了参与者在虚拟课程前后自我评估对严重疾病沟通的准备情况的变化以及对课程的满意度，并将这些发现与之前的面对面 Geritalk 课程的反应进行了比较。
在三个城市学术医疗中心的老年病学和姑息医学研究员在虚拟课程前后完成了调查，调查采用了五分制李克特量表，以评估对课程的满意度和对严重疾病沟通的准备情况。
在 20 名虚拟 Geritalk 参与者中，有 17 名（85%）完成了课前评估，有 14 名（70%）完成了课后评估。总体而言，对课程的满意度很高（平均得分为 5 分制的 4.9 分）。与面对面的 Geritalk 参与者相比，虚拟课程参与者报告称，在所有调查的沟通技巧中，自我报告的准备情况都有显著（P < 0.01）提高。
我们证明了虚拟沟通技巧培训是可行且有效的。我们的发现表明，创新的虚拟 Geritalk 课程有可能增加沟通技巧培训的机会，提高严重疾病沟通技巧，并提高患有严重疾病的老年人的护理质量。
