6074 Improving paediatricians’ communication with adolescents and young people; a school workshop

Objectives A visit to the doctor, either in an acute or an elective setting, can be very intimidating and stressful for most people. This can be exacerbated by the emotional turmoil associated with the adolescent years. With this project, we aimed to improve Paediatricians' interactions with young people and their ability to create communication bridges with them in a familiar environment. Methods As a group of 4 Community Paediatric Registrars, with consultant support, we reached out to a local school to organise a workshop with adolescent students to discuss a medical subject of their choice. This would allow students to discuss health matters of their interest with doctors, without the stress of being in a medical environment. The subject of their choice was 'Understanding genetic diseases – what are they and how they can affect a person's health and wellbeing?' To make the workshop as educational, interactive, and useful to them as possible, we created a short questionnaire to gather information about their existing knowledge. Based on student's answers, we created a short presentation to explain the basics of genetic diseases, gene inheritance, genetic testing, and genetic engineering. Throughout the workshop, we encouraged the students to interact with us, ask questions, and contribute with their knowledge and personal experiences. We gathered feedback from students and teachers following the workshop. Results The feedback received both by teachers and students regarded the workshop as 'very valuable'. The teachers reported they felt 'inspired' and would incorporate some of our techniques when teaching health subjects. The students reported they were excited to have access to doctors who were friendly, spent time teaching them, and were open to questions. As Paediatric trainees, we found the experience very useful and a great opportunity to practice our communication skills with young people. During the workshop, it was clear that delivering a health workshop in response to students' own interests and using interesting examples such as cases discussed on the media engaged their participation. Similar techniques can be used in our interaction with adolescents in the hospital environment to build a better rapport with them. Conclusion The workshop created the perfect setting for Paediatric Trainees to interact and communicate with adolescents, in an environment familiar to them, outside the hospital. At the same time, students were able to gain information on a medical topic of their interest and have a better understanding about an up-and-coming field in medicine.