We look back together on the innovative teaching projects that have won awards so far and start with the project ‘Digital Skills - Communication in the Digital Setting’, which ran from 2020 to 2024 at the medical universities in Graz, Vienna and Innsbruck. At the Medical University of Graz, the project was led by Christian Vajda from the Clinical Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy.
Digitalisation offers both opportunities and challenges for all levels of society. New applications, tools, databases and robots will permanently accompany and enrich medicine in the future, but will also raise legal, ethical, social and communication issues with regard to implementation. Communication between practitioners and patients in particular is and will be affected by this, be it through a wide variety of services such as electronic transmission of findings, apps or video conferencing. This content must therefore already be taken into account during the degree programme in order to prepare future doctors, but also health professionals from any professional background, in the best possible way in terms of person-oriented medicine.
As part of the inter-university project ‘Digital Skills, Knowledge and Communication’ at the Medical Universities of Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz, which ran from 2020 to 2024, medical studies were to be made fit for the future in this respect. In Graz, the focus was placed on communicative aspects in the digital setting thanks to the expertise of the Clinical Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy. The aim was to prepare and sensitise students to the current and future communication challenges in the field of telemedical care, with a focus on video-based consultations. The project was used as a starting point for the gradual implementation of a new ‘Medical communication in the digital setting’ programme at the Medical University of Graz.
The three-part course ‘Communication aspects and skills in the telemedical care of patients’, each comprising six to seven teaching units, was designed and held for the first time in the 2022 summer semester as a free elective subject. The aim is to impart theoretical knowledge (basics of communication, challenges as well as legal and ethical aspects of communication in the digital setting, communication skills, etc.) as well as practical exercises to strengthen and sharpen communication skills (using role play, acting patients and video conferencing systems).
The findings, including accompanying teaching research, were used to review the effectiveness of the course with regard to the intended topic and, in a further step, to implement it in the standard curriculum, which was implemented for the first time in the winter semester 2022/23 as part of the compulsory PT basics track (theory teaching and a conversation simulation with a drama patient).
The person being cared for must always take centre stage. The choice - whether in person or digitally - should only be made after weighing up the needs, possibilities and necessities of a particular approach for the person concerned.
Christian Vajda
Division of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy
