THE CALGARY-CAMBRIDGE REFERENCED OBSERVATION GUIDES - AN AID TO DEFINING THE CURRICULUM AND ORGANIZING THE TEACHING IN COMMUNICATION TRAINING-PROGRAMS

Effective communication between doctor and patient is a core clinical skill. It is increasingly recognized that it should and can be taught with the same rigour as other basic medical sciences. To validate this teaching, it is important to define the content of communication trai ning programmes by stating clearly what is to be learnt. We therefore describe a practical teaching tool, the Calgary-Cambridge Referenced O bservation Guides, that delineates and structures the skills which aid doctor-patient communication. We provide detailed references to subst antiate the research and theoretical basis of these individual skills. The guides form the foundation of a sound communication curriculum an d are offered as a starting point for programme directors, facilitator s and learners at all levels. We describe how these guides can also be used on an everyday basis to help facilitators teach and students lea rn within the experiential methodology that has been shown to be centr al to communication training. The learner-centred and opportunistic ap proach used in communication teaching makes it difficult for learners to piece together their evolving understanding of communication. The g uides give practical help in countering this problem by providing: an easily accessible aide-memoire; a recording instrument that makes feed back more systematic; and an overall conceptual framework within which to organize the numerous skills that are discovered one by one as the communication curriculum unfolds.