The Communication Learning Assessment
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Help students develop the communication skills needed for effective patient care
Grounded in nearly two decades of research, the Communication Learning Assessment (CLA) is a formative learning solution that helps pre-clerkship medical students practice patient-centered communication through realistic video vignettes, guided self-reflection, and exemplar-based feedback.
What does CLA provide?
A safe, simulated environment to prepare for real-world patient encounters.
CLA provides a scalable, evidence-based way to help students improve patient-centered communication skills before they enter clerkship. Students practice responding to a diverse range of communication challenges in a simulated environment that mirrors real clinical conversations. With a mobile-first design, learners can practice communication skills anytime, anywhere, increasing accessibility and flexibility within busy curricula.
Proven Outcomes
43%
Students who used CLA with the full feedback model were significantly (43%) more likely to demonstrate patient-centered communication behaviors during a 2nd session as compared to 1st session, indicating improved skills over the 1-2 week interval between assessments. Each assessment included 4 CLA vignettes.
9 out of 10
Students reported feeling more confident in their ability to communicate effectively with patients after completing the CLA full feedback model over two sessions 1-2 weeks apart.
30+
Informed by scholarly contributions, including over 30 publications, conference presentations, and manuscripts (under review).
$0
Cost to medical schools — CLA is available free of charge.
Flexible by design, relevant to every role
Many experiences. One shared goal.
Medical Students
- Practice realistic patient-communication scenarios in a low-stakes environment
- Develop skills in responding to emotion, providing information, and relationship building
- Build confidence in patient-centered communication skills before your first clinical encounter
Faculty
- Review individual student performance to identify communication strengths and gaps
- Receive aggregate and—coming in January 2027-- individual student performance data
- Enable flexible integration into the curriculum through asynchronous use
Assessment Directors
- Generate formative, standardized evidence of communication skill development
- Contribute to longitudinal learner performance data
- Enable course-level trend analysis using consistent, cohort-level reporting
- Map to your institution’s Educational Program Objectives
Academic Deans
- Strengthen clerkship readiness and patient-centered care
- Support Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) and accreditation goals with credible, aggregate data
- Deploy a scalable, no-cost solution with minimal faculty burden
Explore CLA in Action
Hear from the experts behind CLA
Learn how CLA was designed, the research that informs it, and how faculty can use it to support communication skills development.
Designing a tool to develop and measure patient-centered communication skills
Improving communication skills before the first clinical encounter
Give your students a head start on building their clinical skills
Putting CLA into Practice
A Community of Practice
You're not adopting CLA alone.
