WARWICK NOMINATOR: DR ANN ADAMS, HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE, WARWICK MEDICAL SCHOOL

Debra Roter is Professor of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Her research focuses primarily on physician-patient communication.  She has developed a method of process analysis applied to audio or video recordings of medical encounters, (the Roter Interaction Analysis System, RIAS), widely adopted by researchers internationally.  She has authored over 150 articles, co-edited two books, and authored a book on doctor-patient communication.  Dr Roter has been recognized by the Web of Science as among the most frequently cited social science authors.

Dr Roter’s work is highly relevant to several constituencies at Warwick. She is already collaborating with the emergent communication and decision making (CDM) research group at Warwick Medical School (WMS), and has had a significant impact on helping to advance their international profile. In the past three years Warwick has hosted two visits from Dr Susan Larson (co-developer of RIAS), for RIAS training.  These events have attracted national and international delegates to Warwick, leading to the establishment of RIAS UK, recognising Warwick as the official UK RIAS training centre. 

There is a commitment to developing research collaboration and scholarly activities around RIAS UK, through establishing an international network connecting similar centres: currently in Holland, Portugal, Japan and Korea. Consequently, CDM members have key roles in two symposia at the forthcoming (September) 2008 European Association of Communication in Healthcare (EACH) conference, with Dr Roter and colleagues from these countries, Switzerland and the US.  The symposia will drive new international research initiatives.  

The visit will extend these benefits to other university constituents. Dr Roter's nominating committee comprised members from the Health Sciences Research Institute (AA, JD, HS) and the Institute of Clinical Education (Jane Kidd and Teresa Pawlikowska) in WMS; Kate Seers from the RCN Research Institute; Clare Blackburn from the School of Health and Social Studies (SHSS); and Hannah Bradby from Sociology.  Members have sociology, psychology, education, medical and nursing backgrounds, and membership across diverse university research groups with interests in healthcare communication and consultation processes.  Dr Roter’s visit will provide an important stimulus for closer interdisciplinary working.

Dr Roter’s visit will afford early career researchers (ECRs) the opportunity to learn from a recognised authority in her field.  Some ECRs will be exposed to new methodological possibilities, while others are already using RIAS.  For them, Dr Roter’s visit will be an opportunity to explore challenges surrounding the tool and its use, and ideas for methodological innovation. The visit will also be a catalyst for identifying further interdisciplinary research supervision opportunities.

Events planned during Dr Roter's visit include: 

A public lecture  followed by a reception. This event will be widely advertised across the university and local NHS through WMS, Institute of Health and Warwick and Coventry Primary Care Research mailing lists. Advertising will also be targeted on interested groups and individuals in universities nationally, and through academic and professional bodies e.g. the Society for Academic Primary Care and the Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners. 

Public Lecture: '10 Challenges and Opportunities in Health Communication'

Patient-centeredness has been varyingly used to describe a philosophy of medicine, a clinical method, a type of therapeutic relationship, a quality of care indicator,  a professional and moral imperative, and a communication style. While the conceptual domain is widely viewed as the keystone of future advancements in the practice of medicine, there is a little research describing its predictors, correlates, clinical contexts or consequences. These questions present both challenges and opportunities for future work in the field of health communication. The 10 most pressing issues in regard to these questions will be explored and both challenges and opportunities for future directions of the field will be discussed.  See Poster for more details >>

Early Career Research Seminar:   “Hybrid Methods of Communication Research: Going beyond qualitative/quantitative paradigms”

The 'bedrock elements' of conversational analysis (e.g., sequencing and turn taking) has largely fallen outside the domain of quantitative analysis. Nevertheless, a growing number of investigators have crossed paradigmatic convention to creatively investigate new ways of  approaching the structure and design of the medical dialogue. The objectives of this presentation are threefold: first, to explore dialogue sequence and turn taking from qualitative and quantitative perspectives; to consider practical, theoretical and methodological compatibility of these approaches; and to introduce a new paradigmatically hybrid approach to conceptualization and interpretation of the structure of medical dialogue through analysis of speaking turn duration, density and interactivity.  See Poster for more details >>

GP Lecturers and Trainers:  'Innovative Approaches to Teaching Patient Centered Communication Skills' (to be delivered within the context of the Royal College of General Practitioners' West Midlands Faculty Conference which takes place on 18 June)

Virtually every school of medicine teaches communication skills in some manner, although there is little consensus on the when, what and how of this instruction. While many schools recognize that experiential methods of communication skill instruction such as video review and feedback are superior to more traditionally didactic approaches, only a minority of programs provide this type of systematic feedback to trainees. Moreover, very few training programs attempt to provide feedback longitudinally and within a developmentally appropriate framework.An innovative video feedback program designed to guide medical students, post-graduate trainees, and practicing physicians in the development of a communication skills portfolio is described. The program uses a widely known coding system the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS), to assess key elements of medical communication within an interactive software program with instant search and review functions. Learner receptivity to RIAS- based video feedback is described as well as the utility of the approach for individual and programmatic assessment. 

Please see the IAS Calendar.