Medical Training AIPatient Communication for Primary Care
Clinicians will be able to structure difficult conversations, assess health literacy, and guide shared decisions with patients using established communication frameworks.
What this track covers
This track covers core communication skills for primary care encounters: building rapport, adjusting for health literacy, delivering serious news, working across cultural differences, and using motivational interviewing and shared decision-making to support patient behavior change. It focuses on structured approaches clinicians can apply in real time during visits.
What you will practice
- Open a visit using active listening and rapport-building techniques
- Use teach-back to check a patient's understanding of a plan
- Apply the SPIKES framework when delivering a difficult diagnosis
- Use OARS techniques to respond to patient ambivalence about change
- Present treatment options and elicit patient values for a shared decision
Simulator scenario
A patient with a new abnormal test result who becomes visibly anxious mid-visit, requiring the clinician to deliver the news, manage the emotional reaction, and agree on next steps.
Board question topics
- Applying the SPIKES protocol to a difficult disclosure
- Recognizing low health literacy and adjusting explanations
- Identifying OARS techniques in a motivational interviewing exchange
- Selecting communication approaches for cross-cultural encounters
Ask the tutor
The tutor only answers from licensed sources (FDA prescribing information, public guidelines and our own material) and says when it has none. Educational use only, never patient-specific advice.
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