Videotape feedback reportedly improves communication skills in students learning to conduct medical interviews. We carried out a study of videotape feedback in the undergraduate training program of the department of neuropsychiatry. To evaluate the interviews, we used objective structured clinical examinations and feedback from interviewed patients. The students showed several shortcomings, such as passive investigation into symptoms, past history, family history and explanatory models; poorly expressed empathy; unclear summation; poor explanation about what interviewees should do after the interview; and infrequent use of specific probes and silence skills. Feedback from patients was more favorable than that from instructors. Because our program asking psychiatric patients to participate as interviewees seems to have both advantages and disadvantages, using simulated patients would be helpful for examining the validity of our program.

Several prospective studies on laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer have been initiated, but no prospective study evaluating laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy or laparoscopy-assisted proximal gastrectomy has been completed to date. A non-randomized confirmatory trial was commenced in April 2015 to evaluate the safety of laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy and laparoscopy-assisted proximal gastrectomy for clinical stage I gastric cancer. A total of 245 patients will be accrued from 42 Japanese institutions over 3 years. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients with anastomotic leakage. The secondary endpoints are overall survival, relapse-free survival, proportion of patients with completed laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy or laparoscopy-assisted proximal gastrectomy, proportion of patients with conversion to open surgery, adverse events, and short-term clinical outcomes. The UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number is UMIN000017155.
Anastomotic Leak ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Conversion to Open Surgery ; Gastrectomy* ; Humans ; Japan* ; Laparoscopy ; Medical Oncology* ; Non-Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Prospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms*