Table 3 Uses of VPs for communication skills in undergraduate medicine by specialty and topic. A number of papers presented VPs with more than one topic.

Communication Skills

General

Anxious/ aggressive patient

n= 6*

Patient ignoring doctor’s advice

n= 1*

Frequent demander

n= 1*

Interprofessional Communication

n= 1*

Breaking Bad News

n= 3*

Non-verbal Communication

n= 1

Empathy

n= 3

Not Specified

n= 10*

Medicine

Abdominal Pain

n= 3

Surgery

Back Pain

n= 2

Paediatrics

Ear complaint

n= 1

Asthma

n= 1*

Gastroenteritis

n= 1*

Cultural differences

n= 1*

Psychiatry

Depression

n= 1

Bulimia nervosa

n= 1

Clinical Reasoning

General

Not specified

n= 8*

Medicine

Renal Failure

n= 2*

Haematology

n= 3

Cardiology

n= 5*

Recurrence of TB

n= 1*

Neurological disease

n= 1

Community Acquired Pneumonia

n= 1*

Neuro-musculoskeletal

n= 1*

Oncology

n= 1

Surgery

Chronic Sub-dural Haematoma

n= 1*

Surgical OSCE

n= 1

Spinal Trauma

n= 1

Colon Cancer

n= 1*

Renal Stenosis

n= 1*

Abdominal Pain

n= 3

General Practice

Safe to exercise

n= 1