Background
Health literacy communication skills are not commonly part of medical school curricula, but such skills have shown benefit to patient care. Current literature suggests that programs incorporating health literacy curricula rely on didactics and pre-work by students prior to hands-on experience. We pursued a novel strategy of educating pre-clinical medical students on health literacy communication skills that utilizes productive failure, an approach in which learners attempt generating solutions to a problem before receiving instruction.

Methods
Instructors utilized survey responses from a curricular workshop regarding health literacy-focused communication skills, knowledge, and confidence. During the event, second-year medical students evaluated peer communication during practice sessions before and after the intervention. De-identified, paired data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to determine effectiveness and student satisfaction.

Results
Peer-reported overall performance and use of multiple communication skills were significantly increased, including teach-back, defining jargon, and taking responsibility for the interaction. Self-reported confidence was significantly increased. Qualitative analysis established several themes, with student feedback including “We need more events that talk about this,” suggesting this was an important, well-received curricular addition. 100% of students agreed learning and practicing these communication techniques is important.

Discussion
This curricular event improved the skills and confidence of pre-clinical students’ patient-centered communication. Using productive failure to educate early medical students on health literacy communication skills is valuable and practical. While this intervention fit uniquely within our curriculum, its success should encourage others to use similar methods to introduce these concepts earlier and more frequently during medical training.