Health TrialsbyHealthPanel

Mastery Learning in Communication Skills

ConditionsCommunication ResearchCommunication, PersonalBurnout, Professional
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age20-60
SponsorHeather Ballard

About this trial

The goal of this study is to determine whether mastery learning in communication skills can improve skills in a simulated environment and have translational improvements in outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does mastery learning improve skills in the simulation laboratory? 2. Does mastery learning improve clinical skills as seen by milestone performance? and 3 Does mastery learning improve burnout levels? The study is a multi-institutional randomized controlled trial of anesthesiology residents from five different residency programs. Participants will be randomized to mastery training in communication skills and standard of care, which is vicarious learning. Researchers will compare these two groups to see if mastery learning improves skills and translational outcomes.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Anesthesiology residents rotating at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Disqualifiers

Participant refusal

Study participants who have already undergone the mastery learning in difficult conversations course.

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Mastery learning in communication skills

    Behavioral

    Participants will undergo simulation-based mastery learning curriculum in difficult conversations.

Treatment groups

80 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups
Group A: Mastery Learning GroupExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Standard of Care GroupNo intervention 0 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Communication skills

Post test checklist skills scores, a 16-item checklist was developed using the modified Delphi technique with possible scores of 0 (lowest) to 16 (highest). All items in the checklist are graded dichotomously and (1 if done correctly and 0 if not done or done incorrectly.

Time frame
one year

Secondary outcomes

1

Milestones Performance

The ACGME interpersonal and communication core competency is subdivided into three Anesthesiology Milestones: Patient and Family-centered communication, Interprofessional and Team Communication, and Communication within Health Care Systems. Each milestone is graded on a score of 1 (novice) to 5 (expert) by each residency program's Clinical Competency Committee (CCC).

Time frame
two years
2

Burnout levels

The Maslach Burnout Inventory Scale (MBI-9) will be used to estimate the levels of burnout prior to participation in the intervention, immediately after course completion, and at 2 and 6 months after training. The MBI is a measure of job burnout defined by three subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE) (9 items), depersonalization (DP) (5 items), and professional accomplishment (PA) (8 items), each with 7-point Likert-type, frequency response scale (0 = never, 1 = a few times a year or less, 2 = once a month or less, 3 = a few times a month, 4 = once a week, 5 = a few times a week, 6 = every day) \[1, 2\]. Scales are scored such that higher scores indicate more of each construct. Higher scores on the EE and DP subscales indicate a higher burnout symptom burden; lower scores on the PA subscale indicate a higher burnout symptom burden.

Time frame
1.5 years

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

Heather Ballard

Lead sponsor

Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Sponsor institution

Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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