Assessment of Communication Skills of First-Year Medical Students, Faculty of Medicine, Suez University

Abstract

Background: Effective communication is one of the most important skills of a physician. Every medical student's future job success depends on their ability to communicate effectively since it increases confidence, enhances rapport, lowers errors, and leads to improved health outcomes. Aim:To assess the basic communication skills of first-year medical students. Subjects and Methods: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study, conducted in four family medicine units/centers affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Population in the Suez Governorate in which basic clinical communication skills were assessed among a simple random sample of first-year medical students by observing them taking histories from real patients using the Liverpool communication skills assessment scale from December 2019 to February 2020. Results: The study found that the median total communication skills score was (13.5 (IQR: 11-15). The baseline total LCSA score was significantly different across the categories of participants' gender and residence (p= 0.02 and 0.004, respectively). Conclusion:The first-year medical students’ performance was unacceptable. A formal training course on communication skills is needed to be addressed in the curriculum for better performance.