Evaluation of the impact of a communication focused curriculum intervention in an undergraduate osteopathy programme
Creators: name: Muddle, Lee
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 390110
subject: Medicine, nursing and health curriculum and pedagogy
classificationCode: 390303
subject: Higher education
classificationCode: 420899
subject: Traditional, complementary and integrative medicine not elsewhere classified

description: Effective communication between primary healthcare practitioners and patients is considered critical to the delivery, receipt, and accurate interpretation of health information. Despite the overhaul to medical education more than 20 years ago to include communication skills, there is little reported evidence suggesting professions such as osteopathy have evolved their education programmes to recognise and include these core clinical skills. Design, learning, teaching, and assessment principles frequently used in medical education were used to inform the development of an explicit communication curriculum intervention, with the view to enhancing skill development of osteopathy students to provide patient-centred care. Accompanying the lack of allied healthcare scholarship of learning and teaching communication skills, are the tailored instruments needed to assess development and performance of such skills. Having access to valid and reliable tools affords educators greater confidence in the gathering, analysis and interpretation of assessment and evaluation results. A curriculum spiralled in design is accepted to provide the systematic building of foundational knowledge, complexity, and skill development over time to forge deeper learning. Furthermore, an explicit spiralled curriculum gives students a transparent structured framework where the priority knowledge and skills considered critical for professional practice are highlighted and frequently reinforced. Moving beyond traditional curriculum evaluation methods is fundamental when measuring the impact of educational interventions necessitating behaviour change. Using evaluation theories provides the opportunity to explore in greater depth and understand, the factors contributing to the success or failure of the intervention, as well as for whom in what context. 
Method: A systematic literature review of communication skill learning and teaching was used to scope the current practice in osteopathy and then inform a future communication skill curriculum intervention. A validated and reliable tool already being used in medical education for learning and teaching communication skills was identified, modified, and adapted for use in osteopathy. Quantitative analysis of data included descriptive statistics, Intra class correlation coefficient, and Pearson chi square analysis to validate the modified SEGUE tool and identify if differences existed between cohorts when given the opportunity to engage with variable amounts of the communication skill curriculum intervention. Qualitative data analysis alternatively used thematic analysis to explore student perceptions, attitudes, and experiences about priority skill sets as an osteopath in comparison with industry professionals, and for comparison with a purposeful program logic model developed during completion of the trialling of the intervention. 
Outcomes and significance: The dearth of communication skill learning and teaching literature available in allied healthcare led to the medical education literature being used as guidance to inform the design of the communication skill curriculum intervention used in the undergraduate osteopathy programme. The SEGUE tool readily used in medical education can be modified, adapted, and validated for learning, teaching, and assessment purposes with undergraduate osteopathy students. Developing necessary skills such as communication, requires the curriculum to be explicit, begin with foundational knowledge, be developed gradually over time, revisited in a spiralled manner, and assessed frequently and consistently to optimise deeper learning, retention, and recall. Furthermore, the provision of an explicit and appropriately integrated complete curriculum appears to expedite student confidence and maturity in the clinical setting, and to prioritise and provide patient-centred care. Using data triangulation with a curriculum logic model provides comprehensive insights for whom, where and how did the interventions’ success and failures impact the students overall learning experience.