Exploring the potential of learners as teachers in communication skills - Insights from a student-led international symposium.

Abstract

To explore the role of medical students in teaching communication skills while discussing benefits, limitations, barriers to implementation, and future directions. Four medical students from the USA, Germany, Portugal, and Spain led a symposium at the 2024 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH) in Zaragoza, Spain. The symposium was structured in an interactive format to garner opinions from both learners and faculty-level educators regarding student-led teaching of communication skills. The results were derived from the interactive discussions and voting outcomes. The symposium attracted approximately 30-40 international attendees and generated engaging, thought-provoking discussions. The findings indicated strong support for student-led communication skills teaching from both panelists and attendees. Key themes included the benefits of peer teaching, such as reduced power dynamics, increased comfort, and better understanding of barriers to success. The discussions highlighted the potential of student passion projects to expand curricula and the importance of the appropriate placement of student-led teaching within the curriculum. Student-led teaching of communication skills is a promising approach to enhance medical students teaching abilities and offers unique benefits to learners. The symposium underscored the need for thoughtful integration of student-led teaching within medical curricula and highlighted the potential for student teachers to alleviate faculty workload. Further research is needed to explore the long-term impacts of student-led communication teaching on both student teachers and learners.