Psychiatry Pitstop – Can an Established Face-to-Face Communication Skills Teaching Programme Be Delivered Online?

AimsPsychiatry Pitstop is a communication skills teaching programme for fourth year medical students that is led and run voluntarily by trainee psychiatrists. Initially, the format was a 6-week course after working hours, with each week covering a different topic and three simulated patient scenarios using professional actors. Since 2020, this programme has been run online. Aims: 1. To use pre and post-course questionnaires to study whether online delivery is comparable to face-to-face. 2. To gain qualitative and quantitative data from students to assess advantages and disadvantages of online delivery.MethodsPre- and post-course questionnaires using Likert scales have been used since the Programme's 2015 inception. Additional questions asked about medical students’ views on the online delivery. Pre- and post-course questionnaires were analysed using Chi-squared to determine whether there had been a subjective improvement in communication skills, and online courses were compared to face-to-face.Results17.9% students agreed with “My communication skills in psychiatry are good” before the face-to-face course, compared with 81.32% of medical students afterwards (p < .01). 26.47% agreed before the online course, compared with 80.95% afterwards (p < .01).22.7% students agreed with “Talking to patients about mental illness makes me uncomfortable” before the face-to-face course, compared with 6.87% afterwards (p < .01). 11.77% agreed before the online course, compared with 14.29% of students afterwards (p = .785).51.55% students disagreed with “I do not know how to ask about symptoms of mental illness” before the face-to-face course compared with 91.2% afterwards (p < .01). 47.05% disagreed before the online course compared with 80.95% of students afterwards (p < .01).Students enjoyed online delivery, feeling it was realistic and reflected current consultations. Online delivery also made sessions more accessible and time-efficient. However, students reported that they would prefer at least one session to be face-to-face.ConclusionThe study shows that online delivery of Psychiatry Pitstop leads to a similar improvement in medical students’ subjective assessment of and confidence in their communication skills, and an increased knowledge of questions to ask in a psychiatric history. The face-to-face sessions have been shown to reduce the level of discomfort experienced by medical students when talking to patients with mental illness. This improvement was not replicat