AUSTRAliAN PHYSIOTHERAPY Jones Violet IJoug Jones ORIGINAl ARTIClE Student-patient communication during physiotherapy treatment Some communication skills adopted by 30 Australian and 27 Hong Kong final year physiotherapy students were observed by their clinical supervisor, while delivering treatment to an acute post-surgical patient in their country of origin. In each case, patient and student were racially similar and verbal communication was in their first language. The results showed that Australian students used more explanation, eye contact. verbal reinforcement. facial expression, variation of tone and response with interest, compared with Hong Kong students. Female students from both cultures used more verbal skills, such as information finding and response with interest, compared with male students; Australianfemale students responded with interest more frequently with female patients. When treating male patients, Hong Kong male students applied more non-therapeutic touch but less response with interest, compared with Australian male students. This study suggests that. regardless of the cultural setting, more physiotherapy studentteaching resources should be channelled towards development of communication skills during undergraduate training, with particular emphasis given to verbal communication skills for male students. [Jones AYM, Cupit RL, Choy VW and Jones ROM: Student-patient communication during physiotherapy treatment. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 44: 181-186] Key words: Communication; Education; Patients; Students ommunication includes both verbal and non-verbal behaviour (Satir 1967). Non-verbal cues may be more informative and account for greater message variance than verbal communication (Tepper and Hasse 1978). Optimal patient care requires good patient rapport, however physiotherapy students may be so "intent on perfecting treatment techniques and keeping accurate notes, that they do not always react to the patient's verbal messages or non-verbal signals" (Dockrell1988, p.55). Asian students have been described as passive, lacking initiative and less interactive in class than typical Western students (Dunbar 1988). Ladyshewsky(1996) reported qualitative differences in the teaching and learning expectations of Australian physiotherapy clinical instructors and students from South East Asia. An evaluation of the effectiveness of student-patient communication may have important implications for educators in Hong Kong. This issue is AYM Jones CertPhty, MPhiL MSc, FACP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. RL Cupit DipPhty is a lecturer in the Department of Physiotherapy at The University of Queensland. VW Choy ProfDipPhty is Senior Physiotherapist and Clinical Educator in the Department of Physiotherapy at United Christian Hospital. Hong Kong. also important in Australia, where there are large numbers of Asian students undertaking tertiary health sciences education. This study aims to quantify some communication skills employed by Hong Kong and Australian physiotherapy students during the delivery of a treatment program to a patient of their own race, speaking their own language, in their country of birth. Method Project approval by the ethics committees of the hospitals and universities involved, in both Australia and Hong Kong, was obtained. Written consent from students and patients for permission to observe the treatment procedure was also obtained. Two clinical supervisors (observers) were involved in the study. Both were Hong Kong educated Chinese who had received post-graduate training in physiotherapy in the United Kingdom ROM Jones MBBS, LLB(Honsl. MD, FANZCA, FRCA, FHKCA is Professor and Chairman ofthe Division of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at The University of Queensland. Correspondence: Robyn LCupit, Department of Physiotherapy, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072. E-mail: cupit@physio. therapies.uq.edu.au.