Attention to gender in communication skills assessment instruments in medical education: a review.
Gender is increasingly regarded as an important factor in doctor-patient communication education. This review aims to assess if and how gender is addressed by current assessment instruments for communication skills in medical education. In 2009 at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, an online search was conducted in the bibliographic databases PubMed, PsycINFO and ERIC for references about communication skills assessment instruments designed to be completed by trained faculty staff and used in medical education. The search strategy used the following search terms: 'consultation skills'; 'doctor-patient communication'; 'physician-patient relations'; 'medical education'; 'instruments'; 'measurement', and 'assessment'. Papers published between January 1999 and June 2009 were included. The assessment instruments identified were analysed for gender-specific content. The search yieldedMother jailed for life for punching and kicking her 21-month-old baby to death



Jailed: Collette Harris was sentenced to 16 years at the Old Bailey today, pictured earlier in the trial

A mother who punched and kicked her 21-month-old son to death was jailed for life today.



Collette Harris, 30, must serve at least 16 years behind bars for the murder of Bobby Louch.

He had more than 80 bruises and injuries on his tiny body and head, as well as a burn to his right hand, when he died four days after Christmas in 2008.

He had fatal damage to his brain and abdomen and his injuries were so severe they would normally be seen in a car crash, the Old Bailey was told.

He had suffered 'extensive' bleeding within the skull, bleeding