By: Daphne Johnson

How well can a college course prepare you for the real world? Can it meaningfully impact the way you think, even the way you act, in professional settings?

Tel Aviv University researcher Orit Karnieli-Miller and colleagues investigated just those questions when they examined how a medical communications course affected medical students’ perceptions and application of interpersonal communication skills and humor in patient-doctor settings. Their study was published in Health Communication and found that communications courses have the power to change the way you conduct yourself in your field.

In this study, the researchers tried to determine if a new course at Tel Aviv University improved medical students’ interpersonal communication skills and use of humor in medical scenarios. They were looking to see how participants would use these skills to improve patient-centered care, if the course would change the students’ perceptions of these skills and how the course affected their actions in medical scenarios.

Researchers invited first-year medical students to be part of a study group and take a course on interpersonal communication and humor and compared them to a control group who took other elective courses.

Before the course, researchers assessed the students with questionnaires, a simulation with a patient and interviews. After the course, researchers evaluated the students with the same questionnaires, another simulation with a patient and another interview.

When measuring the study group’s scores before and after the course, Karnieli-Miller and colleagues found that the group’s interpersonal communication skills significantly increased and their humor skills partially increased. When measuring the study group against the control group, study group students scored higher in humor skills but similarly in interpersonal communication skills when compared to the control group. Researchers noted that the control group reported a higher patient-centered-care-orientation than the study group, which could have impacted those results.

In the interviews with students, researchers discovered several findings about how the study group students’ perceptions changed because of the course. First, students reported that they better understood the value of interpersonal communication in patient-doctor relationships, specifically noting the value of investing effort in the beginning and end of medical encounters. Students also reported that they gained a better understanding of humor use during medical encounters and how humor can be used as a tool. Another student-reported attitude shift was that students learned they had the ability and responsibility to carefully use interpersonal communication and humor to influence their patient’s emotional state. Finally, students noted that after the study they felt more confident in employing interpersonal communication and humor in their medical interactions.

Overall, a single course significantly shaped the way these medical students will handle themselves in professional settings. They were equipped with the skills needed to facilitate patient interactions well and empowered to influence the state of the patient with intentional interpersonal communication and humor use.

This study focuses on medical students specifically, but points to the idea that targeted communications classes can strongly impact students’ understanding of and confidence in using interpersonal communication in their field, directly impacting the people they work with. The courses you take can change you, affecting the way you handle yourself and your confidence in applying course concepts to a professional setting.

So, when you sit down in your communications classes, keep in mind the power of a single course to shape you into a better communicator, if you really lean into it. Even one course can impact the way you think and act, just as the communications course from the study meaningfully impacted medical students, equipping them to skillfully and effectively communicate with patients.