Preliminary Assessment for Attitudes of Medical Students to Doctor-Patient Communication

Abstract

Effective doctor-patient communication is essential for delivering high quality patient care and building harmonious doctor-patient relationship. However, little is known about student’s assessment of doctor-patient relationship and their attitudes towards their own communication skills and participating in communication skills courses. The aim of the present study was to identify these assessment and attitudes prior to commencing such a course. We conducted a survey using a self-designed questionnaire on 363 undergraduate medical students in an anonymous way. More than half of the undergraduate medical students (64.7%) thought the doctor-patient relationship is relatively harmonious and 75.5% felt that good doctor-patient communication skills could effectively reduce the incidence of current medical disputes. 81.3% of medical students believed that their communication skills are limited, and are eager to be trained, but only 33.2% of the students agreed that communication curriculum should become a compulsory course. 53.7% of the students favored interactive lectures over the didactic formal lectures. Based on the survey, we feel that it is necessary to setup the doctor-patient communication curriculum in medical institutions to enhance the communication ability of medical students. The preferred teaching style is through interactive lectures with opportunities for discussion and observation.