The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating Making Every Contact Count (MECC) using Healthy Conversation Skills (HCS) into an undergraduate medical curriculum and test the performance of an associated assessment. Methods: Concepts were introduced to second year students t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Robyn Fletcher, Alexander Hammant, Rebecca Symes, Andrew Turvey, Andy Ward, Ary Mahdzir, Bharathy Kumaravel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:PEC Innovation
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772628224001043
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850110475688214528
author Robyn Fletcher
Alexander Hammant
Rebecca Symes
Andrew Turvey
Andy Ward
Ary Mahdzir
Bharathy Kumaravel
author_facet Robyn Fletcher
Alexander Hammant
Rebecca Symes
Andrew Turvey
Andy Ward
Ary Mahdzir
Bharathy Kumaravel
author_sort Robyn Fletcher
collection DOAJ
description Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating Making Every Contact Count (MECC) using Healthy Conversation Skills (HCS) into an undergraduate medical curriculum and test the performance of an associated assessment. Methods: Concepts were introduced to second year students through lectures, small group seminars, role-plays and a new Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).station. Students' feedback was gathered and their examination performance was analysed. Results: MECC/HCS was integrated into the undergraduate medical curriculum at Leicester Medical School. Teaching had a positive impact on the students' self-reported confidence in carrying out MECC (7/10 to 9/10, p > 0.001) and in their self-reported likelihood of doing so (7/10 to 9/10, p > 0.001). The MECC OSCE station was good at discriminating between students' abilities (group discrimination metric 4.36–4.44). The small negative alpha differences for the MECC/HCS station (−0.032 and − 0.028) indicated this station positively contributed to the overall reliability of the assessment. Conclusion: It was feasible to integrate MECC/HCS into an undergraduate medical curriculum, with a positive impact on students' confidence. Innovation: In addition to teaching, this study describes the development and testing of OSCE stations to assess students' MECC skills in simulated clinical scenarios.
format Article
id doaj-art-50b4b67cd9ef4ce9b1a32471fe3d5f76
institution OA Journals
issn 2772-6282
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series PEC Innovation
spelling doaj-art-50b4b67cd9ef4ce9b1a32471fe3d5f762025-08-20T02:37:49ZengElsevierPEC Innovation2772-62822024-12-01510035610.1016/j.pecinn.2024.100356The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculumRobyn Fletcher0Alexander Hammant1Rebecca Symes2Andrew Turvey3Andy Ward4Ary Mahdzir5Bharathy Kumaravel6Leicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UKLeicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UKLeicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UKLeicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UKThe Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, Leicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UKLeicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UKLeicester Medical School, College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; Corresponding author at: Leicester Medical School, Room 2.37, George Davis Centre, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating Making Every Contact Count (MECC) using Healthy Conversation Skills (HCS) into an undergraduate medical curriculum and test the performance of an associated assessment. Methods: Concepts were introduced to second year students through lectures, small group seminars, role-plays and a new Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).station. Students' feedback was gathered and their examination performance was analysed. Results: MECC/HCS was integrated into the undergraduate medical curriculum at Leicester Medical School. Teaching had a positive impact on the students' self-reported confidence in carrying out MECC (7/10 to 9/10, p > 0.001) and in their self-reported likelihood of doing so (7/10 to 9/10, p > 0.001). The MECC OSCE station was good at discriminating between students' abilities (group discrimination metric 4.36–4.44). The small negative alpha differences for the MECC/HCS station (−0.032 and − 0.028) indicated this station positively contributed to the overall reliability of the assessment. Conclusion: It was feasible to integrate MECC/HCS into an undergraduate medical curriculum, with a positive impact on students' confidence. Innovation: In addition to teaching, this study describes the development and testing of OSCE stations to assess students' MECC skills in simulated clinical scenarios.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772628224001043Patient-centred careMedical educationPreventionHealthy conversation skills
spellingShingle Robyn Fletcher
Alexander Hammant
Rebecca Symes
Andrew Turvey
Andy Ward
Ary Mahdzir
Bharathy Kumaravel
The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
PEC Innovation
Patient-centred care
Medical education
Prevention
Healthy conversation skills
title The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
title_full The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
title_fullStr The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
title_full_unstemmed The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
title_short The effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
title_sort effectiveness of integrating making every contact count into an undergraduate medical curriculum
topic Patient-centred care
Medical education
Prevention
Healthy conversation skills
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772628224001043
work_keys_str_mv AT robynfletcher theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT alexanderhammant theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT rebeccasymes theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT andrewturvey theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT andyward theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT arymahdzir theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT bharathykumaravel theeffectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT robynfletcher effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT alexanderhammant effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT rebeccasymes effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT andrewturvey effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT andyward effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT arymahdzir effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum
AT bharathykumaravel effectivenessofintegratingmakingeverycontactcountintoanundergraduatemedicalcurriculum