K.M. Krohn is assistant professor and hospitalist, Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6116-7128 .
R. Crichlow is chief medical officer, Codman Square Health Center, and vice-chair of health equity, Department of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6284-1679 .
Acad Med. 2022 Jul 1;97(7):999-1003. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000004555. Epub 2022 Jun 23.
The World Health Organization calls on all with quality medical information to share it with the public and combat health misinformation; however, U.S. medical schools do not currently teach students effective communication with lay audiences about health. Most physicians have inadequate training in mass communication strategies.
In August 2018, a novel 90-minute class at the University of Minnesota Medical School introduced fourth-year medical students to basic skills for communicating with lay audiences through mass media. Instructors were physicians with experience interacting with the general public via radio, op-ed articles, social media, print media, television, and community and legislative advocacy. After a 20-minute lecture and sharing of instructors' personal experiences, students completed two 30-minute small-group activities. They identified communications objectives and talking points for a health topic, drafting these as Tweets or an op-ed article outline, then presented talking points in a mock press conference with their peers, practicing skills just learned. Pre- and postsurveys documented students' previous engagement and comfort with future engagement with mass media messaging.
Over 1 week, 142 students participated in 6 separate classes, and 127 completed both pre- and postsurveys. Before the course, only 6% (7/127) of students had comfortably engaged with social media and 14% (18/127) had engaged with traditional media in their professional roles. After the course, students self-reported an increase in their comfort, perceived ability, and likelihood of using specific communications skills to advocate for their patients (all P < .001).
The course will be expanded into a 5-session thread for third- and fourth-year medical students spread over 2 years. This thread will include meeting physicians who engage with lay audiences, identifying best practices for mass health communication, identifying bias and misinformation, "dos and don'ts" of social media, and communication skills for legislative advocacy.
世界卫生组织呼吁所有拥有高质量医学信息的人向公众分享这些信息，以对抗健康错误信息；然而，美国医学院校目前并未教授学生如何与非专业听众进行有效的健康沟通。大多数医生在大众传播策略方面的培训不足。
2018 年 8 月，明尼苏达大学医学院开设了一门新颖的 90 分钟课程，向四年级医学生介绍通过大众媒体与非专业听众进行沟通的基本技能。授课教师为具有通过广播、社论文章、社交媒体、平面媒体、电视以及社区和立法宣传与公众互动经验的医生。在 20 分钟的讲座和分享教师的个人经验之后，学生们完成了两项 30 分钟的小组活动。他们确定了健康主题的沟通目标和要点，起草了推文或社论文章大纲，然后在模拟新闻发布会上与同龄人一起展示要点，练习刚刚学到的技能。预调查和后调查记录了学生之前参与和未来参与大众媒体信息传递的情况和舒适度。
在一周内，142 名学生参加了 6 个单独的课程，其中 127 名学生完成了预调查和后调查。在课程开始前，只有 6%（127 名学生中的 7 名）的学生在使用社交媒体方面感到舒适，14%（127 名学生中的 18 名）在专业角色中使用传统媒体进行了互动。课程结束后，学生们自我报告称，他们在使用特定沟通技能为患者代言方面的舒适度、感知能力和可能性有所提高（均 P <.001）。
该课程将扩展为一个 5 节课程，供三、四年级医学生在 2 年内学习。该课程将包括与与非专业听众互动的医生会面、确定大众健康沟通的最佳实践、识别偏见和错误信息、社交媒体的“注意事项”以及立法宣传的沟通技巧。
