Opening Editorial: Conversations in health care education

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Clinical education happens predominantly via conversations. Conversations between the educator and learner, among learners, between those giving and receiving health care and even among educators striving to improve in their teaching. Sometimes these conversations may be difficult, with troublesome feedback and hard lessons to learn, sometimes they are unstructured and messy. Almost always, more dialogue is needed. This theme coincides with the 8 ^th International Clinical Skills Conference in Prato, Italy. The conference has a history of starting conversations among researchers, educators and clinicians and the theme for the conference coincides with the theme for this issue. This pairing of a conference with a post publication peer review journal has not to our knowledge been previously attempted. This format gives a unique opportunity to provide a deeper learning from the peer review process. High-quality submissions will be published on the site and presented at the conference. Readers and conference attendees alike will be able to comment on the papers presented. In this way, discussions in person, online and via the traditional publishing route can be brought together to improve the publishing and research process. Indeed, the theme of 'conversations' could not be more apt than in these 'metaconversations' about educational research. We believe that the conversations within the walls and courtyard of the Palazzo Vaj that have influenced so many educational researchers in the past will have a chance to reach a wider audience than just the conference attendees. Some of the types of conversations in clinical skills we will discuss have great importance in the future of clinical education and for developing health professionals with the skills needed for person-centre care. We especially wish to promote articles that highlight work undertaken in Low-Middle Income Countries (LMICs) as these align with the values of the charity that underpins the conference, the International Clinical Skills Foundation (Inc.).

Keywords: Clinical Education; Clinical Skills; Communication; Conversations; Debriefing; Education; Health Professions; Professionalism.