Aims – Like other medical doctors, gynaecologists have difficulty attending to psychosocial issues and concerns. Communication training has proven to be effective in teaching them to spend more time on discussing these factors. However, whether or not they do this in response to patients' utterances remains unclear. The question is how gynaecologists respond to patients' concerns, whether or not they do this adequately and what the effects of a communication training are on the use of these communication sequences. Methods – Nineteen gynaecologists participated in a study which examined the effects of a three-day residential communication training. Before and after the training the gynaecologists videotaped series of consecutive outpatient visits. The communication during these visits was rated using the Roter Interaction Analysis System. Gynaecologists' responses to patients' concerns were examined at lag one, i.e. immediately following the patient's concern. Results – The most prevalent responses made by the gynaecologists were showing agreement and understanding and giving medical information. Affective responses were observed less. At postmeasurement, the gynaecologists responded neither more adequately nor inadequately to patients' concerns. Conclusions – The gynaecologists did not respond in a very affective way to patients' concerns. However, the patients did not express many concerns. Future studies should focus on more prevalent communication behaviours and incorporate more lags.

Declaration of Interest: none.

Aims – To assess the quality of communication generally two procedures are used: one defines categories of utterances and counts their frequency, the other uses global observer ratings. We investigated whether a sequence analysis of utterances yields results which more precisely reflect the process of a conversation. Methods – We re-examined data from a randomised controlled intervention study in which residents' interviews with simulated patients were analysed with the Maastricht History and Advice Checklist (MAAS-R) and the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS). Using the U-file of the RIAS we studied the effect of different types of physician questions (open, closed questions, facilitators, other physician actions) on the length of uninterrupted patients' speech and content of utterances. We investigated also whether reciprocity indices improve after a communication skills training, and whether they correlate with global scores form MAAS-R. Results – Patients respond to a closed question with a mean of 1.78 (± 1.49) utterances as compared to 2.75 (± 2.72) utterances after an open question. The likelihood of a concern was more than lOfold higher after an open question compared to closed questions. Reciprocal sequences make up less than 2 percent of the conversation, Still, they correlate with global items form MAAS-R. The 'empathy index' improves after the training.

Declararation of Interest: preparation of the manuscript was supported by a grant from OncoSuisse.