Conversations with parents of medically ill children: A study of interactions between medical students and parents and pediatric residents and parents in the clinical setting

Background: The traditional remedies applied by medical schools to the pere nnial problem of teaching "caring competence" have been unsuccessful. Purpose: Our purpose was to design and evaluate a simple and effective meth od for helping students maintain affective contact with their patients. Methods: Third-year medical students and pediatric residents were given the opportunity to talk informally with parents of medically ill children and reflect on the value of this experience for their learning. Trainees' opini ons of the experience were measured with focus groups and a questionnaire. Results: Trainees were delighted with the experience, particularly with the following aspects: the opportunity to hear a personally relevant story tol d in a sincere manner, the realization that they could have an authentic in teraction "even" in a medical setting, and the usefulness of the informatio n they derived from the conversation. Conclusions: We concluded that something unique to the conversational exper ience has educational value. Copyright (C) 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associa tes, Inc.