Abstract
We developed videos and a pharmacist simulator as methods of instructing students in medical communication in the pharmaceutical education curriculum.The videos consist of a model edition (4-5 minutes) and a commentary (6-10 minutes).There are 3 instances of initial interviews with patients and 5 instances of providing information to them.Students can view them on the website of Gifu Pharmaceutical University and on a DVD.The simulator is a teaching aid by which students can have dialogue with simulated patients created using computer graphics.There are 2 scenarios.In one of them the student conducts an initial interview and in the other he or she instructs a patient on medication compliance.
Using these 2 methods,4 th-year students (n=68)of our university received instruction in medical communication and then a questionnaire survey was conducted.The results indicated that the training had been effective in enhancing students' knowledge of medical communication and helping them improve their communication skills (2-top ratio : 98.3%).As a result of the training,students' interest in this topic increased (2-top ratio : 74.1% for video,43.1% for simulator) and they found it useful as a means of self-learning (2-top ratio : 98.3% for video,22.9% for simulator) and as a way of learning communication skills (2-top ratio : 91.4% for video,25.0% for simulator).Covariance structure analysis showed that students were interested in additions to the curriculum that make use of videos and a simulator as they are useful in selflearning and learning communication skills.
