Objective evaluation of communication skills in medical interview

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15312
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Medical sociology
• Research Institution: Kansai Medical University
• Principal Investigator: ABE Tetsuya 関西医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (20411506)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 西山 順滋 関西医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (60368248)
• Research Collaborator: KUSHIDA shuya ; KAWASHIMA michie
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 会話分析 / 医療面接 / 開放型質問 / 閉鎖型質問 / 共感 / 質的研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To evaluate empathy objectively in medical interview, we applied conversation analysis to video-recorded medical consultations data in the department of general medicine in the university-based hospital.
In the opening phase, empathic attitudes are also useful for doctors to grasp patients chief complaints, and it is strongly recommended to use open-ended questions to start history-taking. However, open-ended questions occupied less than 40% in the setting that doctors look at the interview sheets patients filled out before their consultations. The question design can make it feel difficulty for both doctors and patients how to share the patients' complaints because it implies the stance that the doctors are ignorant of what the patients have written in the interview sheets.

Free Research Field

心身医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

診療場面でのコミュニケーション技法のマニュアル化には、過度な単純化による弊害があり得る。問診開始時には患者の自由な発言を促すための開放型質問が推奨されるが、このような定型的フレーズは状況に応じて異なる意味を持つことが、実際の会話の詳細な観察から客観的に確認された。今後は医療者と患者の相互行為パターンを把握することによって、その多様性に対応したコミュニケーション教育が展開可能になると考える。