We are pleased to announce the inaugural meeting of the Technology in Medical Communication (TechMedCom) discussion group, which has been established to inspire its members to explore various topics related to the use of technologies for maintaining good health and supporting medical treatment. We will host Prof. Trena Paulus from East Tennessee State University (ETSU). She is visiting our Faculty, having received the Award of Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Humanities and Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University, which is a prestigious academic exchange programme. During our meeting, Prof. Paulus will share her experience of working in the Quillen College of Medicine at ETSU.
For this special day of inauguration, the TechMedCom meeting will be combined with a lecture delivered by Prof. Trena Paulus.
A discourse analysis of suicide ideation assessment among first year health professional students
31 March 2023, Sala Górna
15:00–16:30 — the lecture
16:30–17:30 — the TechMedCom meeting
Abstract of the lecture
Suicide risk assessments require a complex set of skills around a sensitive matter which can be difficult for health care providers. We explored whether and how first year students enrolled in a communication skills for health professionals course assessed for suicide during their final objective structured clinical examinations with a standardised patient who was exhibiting symptoms of depression. Discourse analysis methods informed by principles from conversation analysis were used to review 121 video-recorded and transcribed final exam interviews to identify patterns and variation in the language choices made to assess for suicidal ideation. We found that 66 of the 121 (55%) final exam interviews included a suicide assessment. We noted key patterns and variation around when the assessments took place (while exploring depressive symptoms or as a topic shift), how they were prefaced (with ubiquity statements, normalisation statements, or expressions of care and concern), and how the question itself was structured (with a negative preference structure, in a non-polar format, or ambiguously). Assessing for suicide is a delicate task for both patients and health care providers. Utilising normalisation statements as well as statements of care and concern is a good approach to assess for suicide ideation.
