Patient-centred communication in radiographer education: A five-country comparative document analysis of curriculum and competency standards.

INTRODUCTION: Patient-centred communication is fundamental to radiographic practice, particularly when patients experience anxiety or uncertainty during imaging or treatment. However, it remains unclear whether broad communication expectations in radiography education and professional standards are translated into explicit, observable behaviours and integrated into education and assessment. This comparative document analysis examined the representation of patient-centred communication in selected national-level documents from five countries, using listening-related behaviours as an illustrative example.

METHODS: Selected national-level curriculum, accreditation, registration, capability, and competency documents from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Japan were analysed deductively using a predefined extraction framework. The framework assessed communication competence, listening-related behaviours, patient-centred care, patient/family relationships, interprofessional collaboration, education, and assessment.

RESULTS: Communication was addressed in all five selected national-level document sets, although institutional framing differed. It was framed as a professional competency or capability in the United Kingdom and Australia, a role-based competency framework in Canada, clinical competency and accreditation requirements in the United States, and primarily as curriculum content in Japan. Explicit observable behavioural expectations, such as listening-related behaviours, were uncommon. Listening was explicitly defined only in the Australian capability standards; elsewhere, it was represented indirectly through broader concepts, such as patient interaction, information gathering, and interpersonal communication.

CONCLUSION: The selected documents differed in the explicitness, structure, and educational integration of communication-related standards, without implying differences in education quality or clinical outcomes. Defining patient-centred communication through observable behaviours may strengthen alignment among professional expectations, learning outcomes, feedback, and assessment.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Operationalising patient-centred communication as observable behaviours may enhance curriculum mapping, feedback, and assessment in radiographer education.