Using the Glasgow Consensus Statement in medical education and assessment to reinforce the humanity of healthcare.

Abstract

In recent decades, healthcare services in many countries have emphasised their commitment to delivering care which is respectful, compassionate, responsive to individual needs and aligned with patient autonomy. In parallel, healthcare systems have become increasingly complex, utilising sophisticated care pathways reliant on subspecialised, multidisciplinary care, supported by a plethora of digital systems and a marked uptick in remote care. All this has profound implications for clinical communication and its education. Today's doctors must develop ways of delivering holistic and compassionate healthcare in systems where their interactions with patients may be more akin to 'brief encounters' than doctor-patient relationships. There is a tension between the professed values of healthcare and the structures, systems and culture that can make it difficult to 'live' those values in practice. In this rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, newly trained doctors cannot rely on the examples of those trained a generation ago. This paper will discuss how medical education and assessment can use the core communication tasks described in the Glasgow Consensus Statement to address the realities of contemporary healthcare practice by emphasising the humanity of those involved and ensuring that clinical communication is apt, meaningful and efficient.