TO THE EDITOR: OBSERVATIONS

Public Speaking Anxiety TABLE Demographics of Survey Respondents

Resident and Student Characteristics Values (N ¼ 107)
in Graduate Medical Female, No. (%) 53 (49.5)

Education—A Matter of Level of training, No. (%)

Student 18 (16.8)
Interpersonal and PGY-1 75 (70.1)
PGY-2 4 (3.7)
Communication Skills? PGY-3 10 (9.3)
Medical education, No. (%)

I
nterpersonal and communication skills are part AMG 57 (55.9)
of the Accreditation Council for Graduate
IMG 45 (44.1)
Medical Education competencies. Previous stud-
ies have demonstrated these skills to correlate with Career plans, No. (%)
improved health outcomes.1 Academia, general medicine 13 (12)
Public speaking anxiety (PSA, also known as fear of Academia, subspecialty 64 (59.3)
public speaking, or the fear of speaking in public) is
Corporate/consultant 1 (0.9)
classified in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders; American Psychiatric Private practice, general medicine 4 (3.7)
Association) as a social anxiety disorder. It is reported Private practice, subspecialty 26 (24.1)
as prevalent in 15% to 30% of the general Formal presentations made prior
population.2 Up to 10% of those with PSA report to this rotation
that their public speaking anxiety results in an Median 4
interference with daily activities, including work and
Mean 6 SD 6.51 6 8.69
education.3 PSA is traditionally thought to be
Abbreviations: PGY, postgraduate year; AMG, American medical school
associated with individuals of lower income status graduate; IMG, international medical school graduate.
and limited education. However, recent surveys
showed that the prevalence in university students is
similar to that of the general population.4 The Duc Ha, MD
prevalence of PSA in the graduate medical education Fellow, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
population has not, to our knowledge, been assessed
Medicine, University of California, San Diego
to date.
We distributed a survey to residents and rotating
medical students between November 2012 and Carlos Isada, MD
December 2013. Our response rate was 97.3%, and Vice Chair, Infectious Disease Department, Cleveland
we found that approximately 17% (18 of 107 Clinic Foundation
residents) had symptoms of anxiety when speaking
in front of others (TABLE). This is comparable to its
prevalence in the general population.
References
Public speaking anxiety may represent an under-
recognized condition that affects the competency of 1. Rider EA, Keefer CH. Communication skills competen-
interpersonal and communication skills. We propose cies: definitions and a teaching toolbox. Med Educ.
that program directors and medical educators incor- 2006;40(7):624–629.
porate a curriculum to enhance public speaking skills 2. Pull CB. Current status of knowledge on public-speaking
in graduate medical training. anxiety. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2012;25(1):32–38.
3. Stein MB, Walker JR, Forde DR. Public-speaking fears in
a community sample. Prevalence, impact on functioning,
Vickram Tejwani, MD and diagnostic classification. Arch Gen Psychiatry.
Resident, Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic 1996;53(2):169–174.
Foundation 4. Tillfors M, Furmark T. Social phobia in Swedish
university students: prevalence, subgroups and avoidant
behavior. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-15-00500.1
- 2007;42(1):79–86.

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