Using Role Play to Develop Student Health Self-Efficacy.

Patient-care provider communication directly impacts healthcare experiences. Technological innovation and traditional authority roles in healthcare settings often create conditions for patients that are fast-paced, overwhelming, or confusing. As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, it is important to equip patients with the appropriate tools to communicatively navigate their own health experiences. Training students to recognize and develop the types of communication skills that are useful for navigating the healthcare system increases their overall health self-efficacy so they can more proactively and collaboratively engage with their care providers. Although care providers often receive varied forms of communication skills training at some point in their career, there are very few opportunities for patients to learn how to proactively participate in collaborative communicative exchanges specifically within healthcare settings. This proposed activity encourages students to critically examine the types of communication skills that can positively contribute to patient-care provider interactions and to increase their own sense of health self-efficacy for positive healthcare experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]