Perception and Attitude of Medical Students towards Communication Skills Lab and Teaching Module

Abstract

Introduction: The knowledge of proper communication skills with the patients plays a pivotal role in success of medical professionals. A practical approach would be to initiate its training at an early stage of education period of undergraduate medical students. Aim: To assess perception and attitude of medical students towards Communication Skills Lab (CSL) and teaching module in Central India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of General Surgery at Index Medical College, Indore, India. Undergraduate medical students were trained as per a systematic teaching module in a well equipped ‘CSL’. Feedback was obtained via Likert scale and analysed after completion of the training course of eight days. Results: A majority of the students (96.43%) opined that the training had improved their communication with the patients. They also felt that such training should be integrated in regular teaching curriculum of our country. Conclusion: The training of basic communication skills can be introduced at an early stage of undergraduate medical curriculum in form of an effective, interesting and acceptable teaching module.

Keywords

• communication lab
• conversational skills
• doctor-patient relation
• medical education