Helping Future Doctors Listen Better: Active Listening Strategies for Medical Students

Getting doctors and healthcare workers to communicate well is super important. One great way to help them is by teaching active listening skills in medical school. Here are some simple ways to do it:

1. Workshops and Training Sessions:

   • Students can join workshops to boost their active listening skills by a lot—up to 60% better! (Boulanger et al., 2019).
   • Role-playing is a fun way for students to practice listening in pretend patient situations.

2. Curriculum Changes:

   • Schools should spend about 20% of communication training time specifically on active listening.
   • This is important because good communication can lead to 30% fewer mistakes in medical practices.

3. Feedback and Assessments:

   • Use video recordings to let students and teachers give feedback.
   • This helps everyone become more aware of their listening skills. Studies show that this kind of feedback can make listening 50% more effective.

4. Working Together:

   • Encourage students to work with others from nursing and pharmacy.
   • When students collaborate, 80% of them say their listening skills get better.

Using these strategies will not only help future doctors talk better but will also lead to better care for patients.