RealTalk resources for clinical trainers: Embedding naturalistic recordings and conversation analytic evidence into existing practice in communication training

This chapter considers “RealTalk training resources”. These were created by a team of conversation analysts and healthcare communication trainers in the UK (Parry et al., 2018, 2022; Watson et al., 2019). RealTalk is an approach to translating conversation analytic insights and empirical evidence from the academic world into the world of healthcare communication training and practice. A distinctive feature of RealTalk is that it is designed to inform and enhance existing practice, not to replace or be delivered separately to existing practice. RealTalk does this by providing trainers with access to streamable video clips of real-life healthcare alongside downloadable written materials, including learning points based on conversation analytic evidence and insights. The learning points are articulated concisely and in clinically oriented language, rather than in highly academic, technical terms.