Connection Over Perfection: Rethinking How We Teach Communication in Medicine: A medical student perspective from the UKCCC Conference 2025
The UK Council for Clinical Communication (UKCCC) Conference 2025 was a reminder that and inclusive communication teaching must go far beyond performance checklists. Medical education must prioritise genuine connection over polished performance if the future healthcare workforce is to be truly equitable, diverse, and inclusive.
The insights below reflect key learning from presentations at the conference.
Language diversity is one area where curriculum gaps are particularly visible. With 9% of the UK population speaking a language other than English, yet interpreter services inconsistently taught, there is a clear need to embed language-inclusive teaching into core curricula. Every second-year medical student should experience at least one interpreter-inclusive simulation session, including a role-reversal task where navigating a healthcare form in an unfamiliar language challenges assumptions about communication ease. This can be measured through simulation assessments and structured reflective exercises.
Supporting neurodivergent learners also demands a proactive shift. Neurodivergent students face hidden barriers when traditional communication models are assumed universal. To create a genuinely inclusive space, all communication tutors should undergo annual 2-hour practical training that includes five standard adaptations for neurodivergent learners. Training outcomes can be assessed via student feedback and reflective practice audits, ensuring it moves from policy to practice.
Session preparation emerged as another critical factor. Students need to know what to expect long before stepping into communication sessions. A five-minute pre-session video tour uploaded to student platforms can demystify session structure, layout, and key expectations. Success can be measured through pre- and post-session anxiety surveys, allowing adjustment based on real student feedback.
Equity and inclusion are not add-ons but must be central pillars of how communication is taught.
Another core message was the need to make clinical reasoning teaching explicit. History-taking is often taught without showing students how doctors translate information into structured diagnoses. History-taking templates could be updated to include mandatory sections for students to write a ‘Summary & Problem Formulation’, supported by tutor feedback at regular clinical placement intervals. Students’ ability to articulate structured summaries can be tracked over time as a measurable learning outcome.
Documentation training must also evolve. With patients increasingly reading their notes, language sensitivity is essential. Inclusive Documentation Workshops, focused on avoiding stigma (e.g., reframing terms like “refused” to “chose to postpone”), can be embedded within communication skills teaching. Completion of these workshops and quality audits of anonymised student notes can measure progress.
Across all sessions, the message was clear: equity and inclusion are not add-ons but must be central pillars of how communication is taught. Whether through more realistic interpreter use, inclusive empathy teaching, early exposure to clinical reasoning, or sensitive documentation, medical schools have an opportunity — and a responsibility — to shift communication teaching towards connection, compassion, and authenticity.
The future of clinical communication lies not in ticking the right boxes, but in meeting patients, colleagues, and each other where they are.
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