Feasibility and acceptability of virtually coaching residents on communication skills: a pilot study
Open accessAbstract
Background: Developing communication skills is a key competency for residents. Coaching, broadly accepted as a training modality in medical education, has been proven a successful tool for teaching communication skills. Little research is available thus far to investigate virtual coaching on communication skills for telemedicine encounters. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that virtually coaching residents on communication skills is feasible and acceptable. We surveyed 21 resident-faculty pairs participating in a “fully virtual” coaching session (patient, coach, and resident were virtual). Methods: We asked 50 neurology resident-faculty coach pairs to complete one “fully virtual” coaching session between May 20 and August 31, 2020. After each session, the resident and coach completed a 15-item survey, including Likert-style scale and open-ended questions, assessing feasibility and acceptability. Descriptive statistics and qualitative content and thematic analyses were performed. Results: Forty-two percent (21/50) of all eligible residents completed “fully virtual” coaching sessions. The overall survey response rate was 91 % (38/42). The majority of respondents agreed that the direct observation and debriefing conversation were easy to schedule and occurred without technical difficulties and that debriefing elements (self-reflection, feedback, takeaways) were useful for residents. Ninety-five percent of respondents rated the coach’s virtual presence to be not at all disruptive to the resident-patient interaction. Virtual coaching alleviated resident stress associated with observation and was perceived as an opportunity for immediate feedback and a unique approach for resident education that will persist into the future. Conclusions: In this pilot study, residents and faculty coaches found virtual coaching on communication skills feasible and acceptable for telemedicine encounters. Many elements of our intervention may be adoptable by other residency programs. For example, residents may share their communication goals with clinic faculty supervisors and then invite them to directly observe virtual encounters what could facilitate targeted feedback related to the resident’s goals. Moreover, virtual coaching on communication skills in both the in-person and telemedicine settings may particularly benefit residents in challenging encounters such as those with cognitively impaired patients or with surrogate decision-makers.
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Relationship skills are a program outcome.
“| Coaching outcomes | Program | Relationship skills | [62,123,147] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [62]
The Methods (Study design and setting; page unavailable) describe a coaching program focused on relationship-centered communication, including establishing rapport and responding to patients’ emotions. But the Methods (Measures; page unavailable) assess feasibility, acceptability, and perceived usefulness—not relationship skills as a measured program outcome. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredVirtual coaching is a coaching success factor.
“| Coaching success factors | Coaching | Virtual coaching | [10,62] |”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [62]
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- Authors
- Sasnal, M., Miller-Kuhlmann, R., Merrell, S. B., Beres, S., Kipp, L., Lee, S., Threlkeld, Z., Nassar, A. K., & Gold, C. A.
- Affiliations
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gold, Carl A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- BMC Medical Education
- Published
- 2021-09-29
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 513-513
- ISSN
- 1472-6920 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8478605
- OpenAlex
- W3204125189
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 1.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Medical Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Stanford Health Care Donor Fund
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
- Keywords
- online coaching, communication skills, medical residents, neurology residency, faculty coaching, debriefing, feasibility and acceptability, feedback, resident stress, cognitive impairment, surrogate decision makers
- MeSH terms
- Mentoring, Communication, Feasibility Studies, Humans, Internship and Residency, Pilot Projects
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