Abstract

Increasingly healthcare education encompass the importance of communication skills training by adopting specific and targeted interventions desired to improve therapeutic and inter-professional communication skills of health care workers in all disciplines for effective multidisciplinary health care delivery. This project extends from an e-learning communications course which was developed last year and integrated into the medical curriculum this year.

It was noted that there are discrepancies between terms used by patients and doctors and lack of consistent terms and terminology which would impede communications between health professionals, within discipline e.g. nursing, medicine, Chinese medicine which is likely to impact on patient care.

The proposed project seeks to provide an e-learning course that enhances students’ medical vocabulary in English, Cantonese and Putonghua so that students are fit for purpose to serve the population. The project will set up a database of terms with audiofiles with illustration of how such terms may be used as well as descriptors of the terms as to differentiate between similar terms and to interlink with other terminology which may be used in conjunction.

This resource can be used for the whole of Medical Faculty as to understand lay and technical terms and such learning will be mirrored to the curriculum e.g. in nursing, pharmacy, medicine, Chinese medicine so that students can learn in context. Assessment may be in the form of OSCEs used in communication skills.