Impact of Teaching Communication Skills to Undergraduate Medical Students

Journal Title: International Journal of Medical Research Professionals - Year 2017, Vol 3, Issue 2

Abstract

Introduction: Effective communication between doctor and patient helps in improving compliance as well as decreases the risk of complications associated with the treatment. Therefore, medical students need to be trained in communication skills as a part of their curriculum. For this, number of teaching methods are being used one of which is role play demonstration. The objective of the present study is to teach the students the importance of communicating details of drug therapy to the patient using role play and then analysing their perception regarding this method of teaching and learning. Method: Ninety MBBS students of 3rd semester (Second prof) were enrolled for the study. Four sessions on prescription writing by didactic lectures were taken to teach them how prescriptions are written and two classes were taken on the importance of communication skills regarding drug therapy. This was followed by role-play demonstrations on how to communicate the details of their prescription medication to the patients. After this, student volunteers acted as physicians and demonstrated the same case scenario to the other students who acted as simulated patients. Students then gave their feedback by filling prevalidated questionnaires. Data was analysed by simple descriptive statistics. Results: 88 % of the students agreed that role play is a feasible way of learning. Majority of the students found role play to be useful and effective. 97% of the students agreed that learning communication skills has improved their confidence in communicating with the patient especially the details of drug therapy. Conclusion: Communication skills are essential to be a good physician and these can be effectively learnt by role play demonstrations.

Authors and Affiliations

Preeti Garg, Gurleen Kaur, Prithpal S Matreja, Vidushi Sharma, PML Khanna, Jaspreet Singh

Keywords

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  • EP ID EP544043
  • DOI 10.21276/ijmrp.2017.3.2.040
  • Views 82
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Preeti Garg, Gurleen Kaur, Prithpal S Matreja, Vidushi Sharma, PML Khanna, Jaspreet Singh (2017). Impact of Teaching Communication Skills to Undergraduate Medical Students. International Journal of Medical Research Professionals, 3(2), 200-204. https://www.europub.co.uk/articles/-A-544043