Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Biomedical Multimedia Unit

Communicating with the Tired Patient

Communicating with the Tired Patient is an interactive multimedia program which aims to assist medical students with their clinical communication skills, and to help them develop an integrated biopsychosocial approach to identifying a patient's problems.

Students are asked to play the role of the doctor in a simulated clinical interview. As the doctor, students listen to up to four audio options comprising questions they could potentially ask the patient. The student selects what he or she believes to be the most appropriate question given the current state of the interview and then views the patient’s response via an audio/visual display. Students are able to see the ramifications and implications of asking different questions by listening to and observing the patient's response. Students are challenged to reflect on specific sequences in their interview through expert "Comments and Questions".

As students progress they are able to view a transcript of the interview at any time which allows them to review the questions they have asked, the patient's response, the expert comments made and their own notes. Students can complete an introductory tutorial before they begin an interview and they are supported by a glossary and a library of microskill resources as they conduct their interview.

Curriculum Usage

Communicating with the Tired Patient is currently used in semester 1 of the medical curriculum.

Project Screen Grabs

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image.

Communicating with the Tired Patient Title Screen   The title screen of the program.
   
Introduction to doctor patient interviewing techniques  

The introduction section contains information about doctor patient interview techniques.
   
The doctor and the patient  

This screen introduces the student to the doctor and the patient.

     
Virtual doctor patient interview  

This screen-grab was taken mid-way through a virtual doctor patient interview. The interview instructions are found at the top of the page, the "comments and questions" box draws the attention of the student to relevant issues and the "your notes" box is for the student to record their own impressions of the interview.

     
Help screen   The help screen for this project is in the form of a transparent overlay over the interface.

Credits

Developed by the Biomedical Multimedia Unit in association with the Department of General Practice, The University of Melbourne.

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