title: Communication skills improvement of medial students according to length and methods of preclinical training.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to evaluate the changing pattern of communication skills of medical students according to length and methods of training.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated a 1-week communications training course in 2003, a 1-year course in 2004, and a 1-semester course in 2005 during development of our curriculum. We have conducted the 10-minute CPX on abdominal pain annually since 2002 to assess the clinical performance of medical students who have completed the 3rd year clerkship. We selected CPX videos that were appropriate for assessment. One hundred sixty-four videos were available (1-week didactics: 42 cases, 1-week training: 28 cases, 1-semester training: 50 cases, 1-year training: 44 cases). We developed a 10-item global rating checklist to assess communication skills. A 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate each item (4-very likely, 0-least likely). Two expert standardized patient (SP) raters evaluated the communication skills of students independently. We analyzed the outcomes based on the training length and methods. The reliability (G coefficient) was 0.825 with 2 SPs and 1 station.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The communication skills of students improved with practice and longer training, especially with regard to opening the interview, expressing empathy, understanding the patient's perspective, and preparing for the physical examination. Rapport-building, organization of the interview, understandable explanation, nonverbal communication, active listening and consideration during the physical examination was unchanged between durations of training. The scores for empathetic expression, active listening and understanding the patient's perspective were low across all groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We should concentrate our efforts to improve students' skills in empathetic expression, active listening and understanding the patient's perspective.
authors: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors: Yang Hee
authors: YH
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors: Jeong Hee
authors: JH
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors: Sung Yeon
authors: SY
authors: Ahn
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors: Seo-Young
authors: SY
authors: Song
authors: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors: HyeRin
authors: H
authors: Roh
keywords: Communication; Educational measurement; Patient-physician relations; Reproducibility of results