2026/02/13 by Riemke Aggio‐Bruce, Georgia Pike-Rowney, Amy Campbell +4 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Psychology · Medicine · #Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare #Communication in Education and Healthcare #Innovations in Medical Education
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s40670-026-02666-y
openalex publication_date 2026/02/13 · openalex created_date 2026/02/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Purpose: limits the flexibility of implementation of NVCS education in medical programs. This gap in understanding is further highlighted by recent pushes toward online learning environments. This study aimed to identify the perceptions of clinical skills tutors, simulated patients, and students around learning NVCS and how that translates to an online context. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using a series of semi-structured interviews with clinical skills tutors, simulated patients and medical students from an Australian medical program. The resulting data was analyzed using reflective thematic analysis. Results: We classified participant construals of how NVCS are taught and learned into four themes: 'explicit teaching', 'experiential learning', 'observational learning' and the importance of 'feedback'. In the transition to online learning, the process of learning NVCS through explicit teaching was largely thought to be retained. Experiential and observational learning were retained in limited forms and some elements of feedback were lost. Conclusions: This study has identified new perspectives of stakeholders in teaching and learning NVCS online for use in clinical contexts. Learning NVCS online can be beneficial in preparing students for telehealth consultations. However, a better understanding of how skills used online and in face-to-face environments correspond is required to guide the development of innovative and engaging methods for the teaching and learning of NVCS. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-026-02666-y.