How to train teachers of communication skills: The oncotalk teach model

Just as communication is a skill that must be learned, teaching ­communication skills requires a methodology based upon known educational principles. “Positive psychology,” which emphasizes skills needed to produce results; adult learning theory, which emphasizes the “activation” and motivation of learners; and social learning theory, which promotes the importance of practice in learning skills; all inform the implementation of specific techniques to promote learning. These techniques include providing realistic examples of teaching scenarios; ensuring a relevance to common challenges faced by learners; a respect for individual learners’ skill level; providing cognitive “road maps” that guide the learner as “how to do it” in communicating effectively; respect for the self-generated goals of the learner; and an opportunity for learners to practice in a safe environment. An efficient way of teaching communication skills is to apply these principles in a small group setting where learners can support and learn from one another. This chapter describes a teaching format based upon these concepts applied to a course for teaching communication skills to medical oncology fellows. It illustrates how the process of teaching oncology attending physicians from major cancer centers to teach communication skills was implemented using a “retreat” model with distance learning. It identifies skills necessary to be a teacher of communication skills by describing not only the skills targeted for development in the fellows but in a parallel fashion the skills applied by the faculty themselves in promoting the development of the learners.