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  • Melbourne Medical School
  • Surgery (Austin & Northern Health)
  • Surgery (Austin & Northern Health) - Research Publications
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    Role-play for medical students learning about communication: guidelines for maximising benefits.

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    173
    Author
    Nestel, D; Tierney, T
    Date
    2007-03-02
    Source Title
    BMC Medical Education
    Publisher
    Springer Science and Business Media LLC
    University of Melbourne Author/s
    Nestel, Debra
    Affiliation
    Surgery (Austin & Northern Health)
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Document Type
    Journal Article
    Citations
    Nestel, D. & Tierney, T. (2007). Role-play for medical students learning about communication: guidelines for maximising benefits.. BMC Med Educ, 7 (1), pp.3-. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-7-3.
    Access Status
    Open Access
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11343/253709
    DOI
    10.1186/1472-6920-7-3
    Open Access at PMC
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1828731
    Abstract
    BACKGROUND: Role-play is widely used as an educational method for learning about communication in medical education. Although educational theory provides a sound rationale for using this form of simulation, there is little published evidence for its effectiveness. Students' prior experiences of role-play may influence the way in which they engage in this method. This paper explores students' experiences with the aim of producing guidelines for maximising the benefits of role-play within this learning context. METHODS: First-year undergraduate medical students participated in a role-play session as part of their communication programme. Before and after the session, students completed questionnaires. In the pre-session questionnaire, students were asked about their experiences of role-play and asked to identify helpful and unhelpful elements. Immediately after the session, students answered similar questions in relation to the role-play activity they had just completed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data and qualitative data was thematically analysed. RESULTS: 284 students completed evaluation forms. Although 63 (22.2%) had prior unhelpful experiences, most students (n = 274; 96.5%) found this experience helpful. Summary findings were that students reported the key aspects of helpful role-play were opportunities for observation, rehearsal and discussion, realistic roles and alignment of roles with other aspects of the curriculum. Unhelpful aspects were those that evoked strong negative emotional responses and factors that contributed to a lack of realism. CONCLUSION: Role-play was valued by students in the acquisition of communication skills even though some had prior unhelpful experiences. Guidelines for effective role-play include adequate preparation, alignment of roles and tasks with level of practice, structured feedback guidelines and acknowledgment of the importance of social interactions for learning.

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