Evaluation of a Patient Communication Skills Training Program for Medical Physicists

Perception and Recognition of Clinical Medical Physicist Roles and Responsibilities by Specialist Physician Staff: The First Mexican Survey

Introduction

Although medical physics as a profession is recognized as part of the health-care professional workforce by the International Labor Organization, in the Mexican context, the figure of the medical physicist (MP) is often inappropriately associated solely with technical work, leading to perception, recognition, and salary implications. The aim of this study was to explore the perception of medical specialists regarding the role and responsibilities of MPs in clinical practice in Mexico.

Methods

A national survey was answered by medical personnel, ranging from residents to qualified specialists in November 2019. The questionnaire consisted of ten questions related to perception of MPs. The survey was open to all medical specialists regardless of their involvement in the use of ionizing radiations or otherwise.

Results

It was shown that approximately two-thirds of specialists know and recognize the medical physics profession in hospitals and the roles and responsibilities of MPs. However, 19% of medical specialists considered the standard of service as inadequate.

Conclusion

MPs must exert greater efforts to promote their status and enhance the recognition of their contribution to health care. The low level of recognition in diagnostic and interventional radiology and in nuclear medicine in Mexico might be related to nonexistent or unclear documentation and inadequate regulations, policies, or directives promoted by the health-care authorities.

Examining the Effect of Direct Patient Care for Medical Physicists: A Randomized Prospective Phase III Trial

PURPOSE

Our purpose was to investigate the effect of physicist-patient consults on patient anxiety and patient satisfaction with a randomized prospective phase III clinical trial.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Sixty-six patients were randomly assigned to the physics direct patient care (PDPC) arm or the control arm of the trial. Patients assigned to the PDPC arm received 2 physicist-patient consults to educate them on the technical aspects of their radiation therapy, while patients assigned to the control arm received the standard of care (ie, standard radiation therapy workflow without any additional physicist-patient consults). Questionnaires were administered to all patients at 4 time points (after enrollment, after the simulation, after the first treatment, and after the last treatment) to assess anxiety and satisfaction.

RESULTS

The decrease in anxiety for the PDPC arm, compared with the control arm, was statistically significant at the first treatment (P = .027) time point. The increase in technical satisfaction for the PDPC arm, compared with the control arm, was statistically significant at the simulation (P = .005), first treatment (P < .001), and last treatment (P = .002) time points. The increase in overall satisfaction for the PDPC arm, compared with the control arm, was statistically significant at the first treatment (P = .014) and last treatment (P = .001) time points.

CONCLUSIONS

Physicist-patient consults improved the patient experience by decreasing anxiety and increasing satisfaction. Future work is needed to modify current radiation oncology workflows and medical physics responsibilities to allow all patients to benefit from this advancement in patient care.

A Direct Patient-Provider Relationship With the Medical Physicist Reduces Anxiety in Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy

PURPOSE

The complex technological processes involved in radiation therapy can be intimidating to patients, causing increased treatment-related anxiety and reduced satisfaction. An intervention was implemented to provide direct consultations between patients and medical physicists to reduce patient anxiety and improve patient satisfaction. A randomized clinical trial was conducted to test the intervention's effect on anxiety, distress, treatment adherence, technical understanding, and satisfaction in patients receiving radiation therapy.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Eligible patients were recruited into "intervention" and "standard of care" arms within a phase 2 screening randomized trial. Intervention-arm patients met with a medical physicist who provided technical information and addressed patient questions or concerns at the time of treatment simulation and before the first treatment. In addition to baseline information collected before randomization, participants were surveyed (1) before simulation, (2) before the first treatment, and (3) before the completion of treatment to evaluate the study endpoints. Primary endpoints included patient anxiety and distress. Secondary endpoints included patient treatment adherence, overall satisfaction, and technical understanding of treatment. Patients in the intervention arm were surveyed before and after each physicist meeting.

RESULTS

Participant anxiety was significantly reduced in the intervention arm (difference, -0.29; 95% confidence interval, -0.57 to -0.02; P = .038). No differences in distress or treatment adherence were observed between groups. Although measures of technical understanding and satisfaction were evaluated as exploratory objectives, participants in the intervention group were more likely to feel that technical aspects of treatment were adequately explained (difference, 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.03-1.54), and all measures of technical understanding and satisfaction were considerably higher in the intervention group at the time of the first visit.

CONCLUSIONS

The establishment of a direct patient-provider relationship with the medical physicist reduced anxiety in patients receiving radiation therapy. In addition, increases in patient understanding of the technical aspects of care and in satisfaction were observed at the initiation of treatment.

Training for the future: Introducing foundational skills necessary to promote patient-centered care practice in medical physics graduate programs

Current medical physics graduate training in the United States seldom explicitly includes education on foundational skills necessary to produce Patient-Centered Care (PCC)-focused healthcare providers. Such abilities include effective communication, critical reflection, and ethical decision-making. In this article, we present examples of curricula used to purposefully introduce these skills into graduate training to fill this gap. Presented didactic activities include an introduction to patient communication, ethics in medical physics, and a primer in health disparities for medical physicists. Although development of new curricula is resource-intensive when left to individual programs, we here propose resource-sharing and interprofessional collaboration to overcome these barriers.

Developing communication curricula in healthcare education: An evidence-based guide

OBJECTIVE

To present a guide for communication curriculum development in healthcare professions for educators and curriculum planners.

METHODS

We collated a selection of theories, frameworks and approaches to communication curriculum development to provide a roadmap of the main factors to consider when developing or enhancing communication skills curricula.

RESULTS

We present an evidence-based guide for developing and enhancing communication curriculum that can be applied to undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare education. Recommended steps to consider during the communication curricula development process include thoughtful examination of current communication education, needs assessment, focused learning goals and objectives, incorporation of experiential educational strategies allowing for skills practice and feedback and use of formative and summative assessment methods. A longitudinal, developmental and helical implementation approach contributes to reinforcement and sustainment of learners' knowledge and skills.

CONCLUSION AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Drawing on best practices in developing communication curricula can be helpful in ensuring successful approaches to communication skills training for any level of learner or healthcare profession. This position paper provides a guide and identifies resources for new and established communication curriculum developers to reflect on strengths and opportunities in their own approaches to addressing the communication education needs of their learners.

Being an excellent scientist is not enough to succeed! Soft skills for medical physicists

PURPOSE

To provide a review of the literature and commentary regarding soft skills for Medical Physicists.

METHOD

A comprehensive search in PubMed was carried out using the searchwords 'medical physics' coupled separately ('AND', both in Title) with each of the following terms: leadership, teamwork, communication, pedagog*, teach*, marketing, conflict resolution, negotiat*, qualitative research, organizational psychology.

RESULTS

The total number of PubMed references was extremely low (total 6 relevant articles for all of leadership, communication, pedagog*, teach*, with the rest of the searchwords giving zero hits) which is quite disturbing. For an improved perspective, we compared the search for 'leadership AND medical physics' to 'leadership AND medical' and 'leadership AND nursing' we only had 4 hits for Medical Physics as opposed to 564 for 'leadership AND medical' and 1419 for 'leadership AND nursing'.

CONCLUSIONS

It seems that Medical Physicists give an extremely low priority to soft skills as opposed to scientific skills. In a world of austerity economics and sometimes over commoditization such a situation is not only disturbing it is actually very risky for the profession. Medical Physicists must learn to provide strategic and robust leadership, be able to market their profession to all stakeholders (in particular to decision makers, other health care professions and the general public), be able to communicate their role, negotiate effectively for their profession, and boost their abilities for teambuilding and conflict resolution. The setting up of education programmes to overcome this soft skill deficit among medical physicists by national, regional and international medical physics organizations must be given priority.

Introductory patient communication training for medical physics graduate students: Pilot experience

Despite medical physics becoming a more patient‐facing part of the radiation oncology team, medical physics graduate students have no training in patient communication. An introductory patient communication training for medical physics graduate students is presented here. This training exposes participants to foundational concepts and effective communication skills through a lecture and it allows them to apply these concepts through realistic simulated patient interactions. The training was conducted virtually, and eight students participated. The impact of the training was evaluated based on changes in both confidence and competence of the participants’ patient communication skills. Participants were asked to fill out a survey to assess their confidence on communicating with patients before and after the training. They also underwent a simulated patient interaction pre‐ and postlecture. Their performance during these was evaluated by both the simulated patient actors and the participants themselves using a rubric. Each data set was paired and analyzed for significance using a Wilcoxon rank‐sum test with an alpha of 0.05. Participants reported significantly higher confidence in their feeling of preparedness to interact with patients (mean = 2.38 vs. 3.88, p = 0.008), comfort interacting independently (mean = 2.00 vs. 4.00, p = 0.002), comfort showing patients they are actively listening (mean = 3.50 vs. 4.50, p = 0.005), and confidence handling challenging patient interactions (mean = 1.88 vs. 3.38, p = 0.01), after the training. Their encounter scores, as evaluated by the simulated patient actors, significantly increased (mean = 77% vs. 91%, p = 0.022). Self‐evaluation scores increased, but not significantly (mean = 62% vs. 68%, p = 0.184). The difference between the simulated patient and self‐evaluation scores for the postinstruction encounter was statistically significant (p = 0.0014). This patient communication training for medical physics graduate students is effective at increasing both the confidence and the competence of the participants in the subject. We propose that similar trainings be incorporated into medical physics graduate training programs prior to students entering into residency.