DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k6djh9wcj
title: Data from: Communication skills of medical students: Evaluation of a new communication curriculum at the University of Augsburg

description: Objectives: Teaching communication skills plays a pivotal role in medical
 curricula. The aim of this article is to describe and evaluate a new
 communication curriculum developed at the Faculty of Medicine, University
 of Augsburg (KomCuA), which was conceptualized by an interdisciplinary
 team based on recommended quality standards (i.e., helical, integrated,
 longitudinal). Methods: A total of 150 medical students enrolled in the
 1st, 3rd, and ≥5th semester participated in the study. They completed an
 online survey (numerical rating scales and validated questionnaires)
 evaluating their current communication skills, how these developed across
 the curriculum in terms of quality and self-confidence, and how helpful
 they considered practicing in small group tutorials with simulated
 patients. The students’ attitudes towards communication and empathy in the
 context of medical care were additionally assessed. The students’
 responses were compared across semesters using one-way univariate analysis
 of variance (ANOVA). Results: Overall, students reported improved
 communications skills due to attending the KomCuA and further considered
 practicing with simulated patients as being very helpful (large effect
 sizes). Compared to 1st semester students, 3rd and ≥5th semester students
 reported better communication skills (medium to large effect sizes).
 Additionally, ≥5th semester students showed stronger agreement towards the
 relevance of empathy in the context of medical care (medium effect size)
 compared to both 1st and 3rd semester students. Conclusion: The KomCuA has
 shown to be an effective communication curriculum to support medical
 students in the development of their communication skills and positive
 attitudes towards empathy. Additional studies assessing students’
 communication skills and empathic attitudes longitudinally are warranted
 to confirm the present results and to gain further knowledge on how these
 essential skills and attitudes develop across medical curricula.
description: # Data from: Communication skills of medical students: Evaluation of a new
 communication curriculum at the University of Augsburg Zerbini G.,
 Reicherts P., Reicherts M., Roob N., Schneider P., Dankert A., Greiner S.,
 Kadmon M., Lechner V., Roos M., Schimmel M., Strube W., Temizel S.,
 Uhrmacher L. & Kunz M. 2023. Communication skills of medical students:
 Evaluation of a new communication curriculum at the University of
 Augsburg. GMS J Med Educ Data: R script and data used to evaluate a new
 medical communication curriculum at the University of Augsburg
 Corresponding authors: Dr. Giulia Zerbini,
 [giulia.zerbini@med.uni-augsburg.de](mailto:giulia.zerbini@med.uni-augsburg.de) Prof. Dr. Miriam Kunz, [miriam.kunz@med.uni-augsburg.de](mailto:miriam.kunz@med.uni-augsburg.de) Department of Medical Psychology and Sociology, Institute of Theoretical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg Universittsstrasse 2, 86159 Augsburg Files list Zerbini_Reicherts_etal_2023_dataset.csv Zerbini_Reicherts_etal_2023_R_script_data_analysis.R Zerbini_Reicherts_etal_2023_dataset_description.pdf Files description Zerbini_Reicherts_etal_2023_dataset.csv: this file contains the dataset used for the analyses. Zerbini_Reicherts_etal_2023_R_script_data_analysis.R: this file contains the R script to run the analyses.\ Zerbini_Reicherts_etal_2023_dataset_description.pdf: this file contains the description of all variables used in the analyses.