The literature review is an essential part of all stages of research. The literature review serves different purposes at different stages of the research process. A major purpose of the literature review before starting research is to explore what is already known in an area of study, and the literature can be used as a benchmark for comparing your results with previous findings when writing the discussion section of your paper. Understanding these purposes of the literature review and appropriately utilizing the literature at each stage of research is essential for improving the quality of research.

Objectives: This study reviewed the literature on instruments measuring physician-patient communication skills in medical interviews. Our goal was to clarify the features of current instruments and problems in assessing physician-patient communication with them.
Methods: In 2012, we searched for published articles about instruments assessing physician-patient communication skills in the bibliographic databases PubMed, PsycINFO, and the Education Resources Information Center using the combination of search terms （“consultation skills” OR “doctor-patient communication” OR “physician-patient relations”） AND “medical education” AND （instruments OR measurement OR assessment）. Instruments designed for faculty observers and to be used in medical education were included in the study. To compare the instruments, we classified the items of each instrument on the basis of the framework of the Kalamazoo Consensus Statement （KCS）, an experts’ consensus statement on 7 essential elements of physician-patient communication.
Results: Ten instruments were included in the study. Eighty-three percent of all 277 items of the instruments were classified to any of the 7 elements identified in the KCS. Most of the instruments included more than 6 elements identified in the KCS, and some of the instruments had been constructed on the basis of the KCS. However, the instruments varied considerably in essential communication skills to understand the patient’s perspective, to share information, and to reach agreement on problems and plans.
Conclusions: Further study is needed to provide evidence for essential communication skills in physician-patient consultation. Because essential communication skills depend on the educational goals, culture, language, and other factors, ensuring the reliability and validity of tools administered to evaluate communication must be required.

1) We conducted a randomized controlled trial in medical education area and explored practical issues through reflection on the processes.
2) In February 2007, 39 fourth-year medical students in Nippon Medical School listened to the lecture about how to ask key questions for the diagnosis. Shortly after they had medical interview with a standardized patient for measurement purpose. They were randomly allocated to study and control groups. The lecture content for the intervention group corresponded to the interview but the one for the control group did not correspond to the interview.
3) We identified the issues related with ethical review for research, how to mask the information of randomization out of assessors, and equity of educational intervention and assessment offered to both groups.

Many healthcare professionals believe they must speak English to communicate with patients from overseas. However, a survey revealed more than 70% of overseas patients comfortably use Japanese in their daily life. Therefore “Easy Japanese” has been promoted at municipal offices, tourism agencies, or schools attended by children with ties to overseas countries. However, Easy Japanese is not known to clinical staff.　This article introduced an overview of “Easy Japanese” and the educational materials we have developed for busy clinicians. As the number of international residents has been increasing, hospitals must be equipped with medical interpreters and “Easy Japanese.” Easy Japanese is also helpful for the elderly, especially those with hearing and/or cognitive impairment. Medical interpreters and sign-language interpreters often express the merits of “Easy Japanese,” which is a valuable tool for multicultural societies and should be implemented in medical education.