Medical students writing letters to their patients: Teaching communication and empathy
Abstract
This Editorial was written as an encomium to DoctorsMrduljaš-Đujić, Pavličević, Marušić and Marušić to acknowledgetheir contributions to medical education inthe article they have authored for this issue of Acta MedicaAcademica (1). However, before I address the key featuresof that article allow me first to describe the problems ofteaching humanism in medical schools, at least the way Isee them.References
Mrduljaš-Đujić N, Pavličević I, Marušić A, Marušić M. Students’ letters to the patients as a part of education in family medicine. Acta Medica Academica. 2012;41(1): 52-8.
Lang F, McCord R, Harvill L, Anderson DS. Communication assessment using the common ground instrument: psychometric properties. Fam Med. 2004;36:189-98.
Huntley CD, Salmon P, Fisher PL, Fletcher I, Young B. LUCAS: a theoretically informed instrument to assess clinical communication in objective structured clinical examinations. Med Educ. 2012;46:267-76.
Hojat M, Mangione S, Kane GC, Gonnella JS. Relationships between scores of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Med Teach. 2005;27:625-8.
Dolan B, Goren N, Perlis C.Epistolary medicine. Lancet. 2009;374:1588-9.
Verby JE, Schaefer MT, Voeks RS. Learning forestry out of the lumberyard. A Training alternative for primary care. JAMA 1981;24:645-7.
