Presenter:
Robert Moody
Students in multiple allied health profession programs are bombarded with information from their professors and from their digital lifestyles. The reliance on smartphones and tablets to communicate has led to a general deterioration of attention spans as well as the ability to process information effectively. Not all students seem impacted, but most students seem distracted. Do we eliminate technology from classrooms, or do we adapt to compete for our students’ attention? Compounding this epidemic of inattention is the apparent drop in effective communication skills, leading to misunderstandings and misinterpretations of verbal communication. Assertive statements are misinterpreted as “shouting” and constructive criticism may be interpreted as attempts to humiliate students are one of several examples. The way students communicate with each other, based on similarities in age and culture, may also result in failure to effectively communicate and emote with their future patients. This lecture addresses these issues and proposes ways of teaching students how to process information better and tap into empathy to demonstrate the need to reconnect with people and not rely on technology.
