IJME - Attitudes of medical students towards communication skills and patient-centered care: the impact of group mentorship

Table 1. Topics and activities in the mentorship groups at the time of the study

Year/term		Topics*	Activities
Year 1	Autumn	Patients’ experience of living with a chronic illness; what is a good doctor	Video of interview with a patient in general practice
	Spring	How to provide information to patients;uncertainty	Video of role play between students
	Spring	Conversation with a patient with breast cancer and her family member; ethics; students' reaction to serious illness	Video of role play between students
Year 2	Autumn	Motivational interview: changing lifestyle; patient autonomy	Video of role play between students
	Autumn	Gathering information from a patient; integrating information about current medical problem; the patient’s perspective; communication skills	Video of interview with a patient at either an outpatient or inpatient clinic
	Spring	“Ethics in everyday medical practice”; a patient encounter that affected the student emotionally	Students write a reflective paper for discussion about ethics in groups
	Spring	History-taking in general practice	Video of patient encounter in general practice
Year 3	Autumn	Gathering information from a patient; integrating information about a current medical problem; the patient’s perspective; communication skills	Video of interview with a patient at either an outpatient or inpatient clinic
	Autumn	Same as above	Same as above
	Spring	History-taking; examination; analysis and planning with a patient in general practice	Video of a patient encounter in general practice
	Spring	“Ethics in everyday medical practice”; a patient encounter where a physician behaved in an unfortunate manner	Students write a reflective paper for a discussion about ethics in groups
Year 4	Autumn	History-taking with a pregnant woman referred for an early ultrasound; ethical topics in gynecology and obstetrics	Video with a pregnant woman and her partner in a gynecological outpatient clinic; discussion and reflection of ethical topics
	Autumn	Routine control of children at healthcare centers, history-taking, and examination; clinical encounters with children; providing “bad news” to parents of a newborn with Downs syndrome	Video with children and their relatives at the healthcare center; videos on YouTube; role-playing in the mentor groups with simulated patients (the parents)
	Spring	Ambivalence, abortion; physicians on night shifts; patients’ experience of how to live with a chronic, potentially lethal disease and GPs’ experience of providing health care (after lecture with a patient)	Role-playing in the group with a simulated patient and ethical reflections; reflection notes and discussions in the group after shadowing a physician during a night shift at the hospital; reflection notes and discussions.
	Spring	History-taking; examinations; analysis and planning of patients in general practice	Consultations with simulated patients in the group

*In most meetings, there is also time to discuss topics that students raise about professionalism, communication, and ethics

Int J Med Educ. 2025; 16:52-61; doi: 10.5116/ijme.679e.091b