Michelle Fromage

My PhD is in Clinical Communication, and I hold a BSc (Hons) in Psychosocial Science which renders me extremely well informed about effective communication behaviors and skills that facilitate and optimise Doctor – Patient relationships. I am passionate about sharing my skills and knowledge with undergraduate MBBS students within my post of Lecturer in Consultation Skills at the Norwich Medical School (NMS). I also have experience in teaching consultation skills to Postgraduate Physicians Associate students and trainee General Practitioners. I am an Advanced Communication Skills Training (ACST) trainer and facilitate experiential teaching of experienced Primary and Secondary Care clinicians. I am currently studying towards a Diploma in Coaching & Award in Mentoring to become a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) accredited Coach.

Following my BSC (Hons) in Psychosocial Science I became a learning support assistant at the UEA for a student who was studying for the same degree. I coupled this with working at a local charity who specialised in Asperger Syndrome. As part of the Education Team. I advocated for families who were trying to access suitable support from school systems.  Communication was often challenging for such families and much of my role was helping them to find strategies to manage those difficulties.

I was then awarded a UEA studentship for a PhD in Clinical Communication. During my studies, I began teaching consultation skills to MBBS students as an Associate Tutor in the Norwich Medical School. Following the completion of my PhD (2014), I continued with this and also taught Psychology in the School of Psychology at UEA on a part-time basis. I worked in the Adult Education Department at Norfolk County Council where I taught Psychology at GSCE and A Level to adult learners.  I began my lectureship in the Norwich Medical School in 2018 as a Medical Education Lecturer in the Assessment team before I joined the Consultation Skills Theme where I have been working for the past 5 years.

My PhD thesis entitled ‘Consultation Skills Training and Practice: A Mixed-Methods

Exploration of Perspectives from Junior Doctors, their Patients and other Clinicians’ explored the longitudinal impact of undergraduate consultation skills training on practice. My research interests lie in the student’s perspective of teaching, learning and practicing consultation skills and the development of innovative teaching methods to raise the profile of the theme within Medical Schools and beyond. My other research interest is in the concept of Empathy and how it is defined, taught, learnt and maintained by students and health care professionals.

My teaching interests are aligned with my research interests around the analysis of communication behaviours and best practice in teaching those behaviours including Empathy, Curiosity and Patient-centeredness to medical students and health care practitioners. My current teaching of consultation skills involves the creation of online resources, lectures and small group teaching where simulation and live feedback are key elements.  Most of my teaching is experiential, incorporating simulated practice with  simulated patients. Small group practice sessions actively encourage students to self - assess their progress in both confidence and competence. I encourage students to reflect on their own and others performance and skills set, learn to give and receive effective feedback and find ways of implementing their learning from each session to improve their skills in practice and assessment.

As a reflective practitioner myself I value the practice of reflection and am an advocate of teaching the skills of reflection to medical students. I am also interested in the link between self-efficacy and communication so take an active teaching interest in ways of building self-efficacy in students who find communication challenging. To this end I coordinate and deliver consultation skills remediation clinics where I support students on a 1-to-1 basis.