Comparison of communication skills in medical residents with and without undergraduate communication skills training as provided by the Faculty of Medicine of Gadjah Mada University

OBJECTIVE: To promote better doctor-patient relationships in clinical practice, many medical faculties have introduced practical communication skills training programs for their students. This study is aimed at comparing the communication skills of graduates of the Faculty of Medicine of Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, educated with and without communication skills training as perceived by their patients and by the graduates themselves. METHODS: Over 300 patients were seen by 18 medical residents trained in communication skills before graduation and 30 residents who had not attended this training. After consultation patients and residents completed a 39-item questionnaire addressing the doctor's communication behavior skills. In the questionnaires completed by patients the desired communication behavior of doctors was also rated. RESULTS: Patients did not observe any differences in communication behavior skills among residents who received training and those who did not. These two groups of trained and non-trained residents assessed their own communication behavior skills. On 4/39 questionnaire items patients rated the communication behavior skills of trained residents lower than the residents themselves and the ratio was 13/39 for non-trained residents. A significant gap was noted between doctors' communication behavior skills as observed and desired by their patients (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Undergraduate communication skills training in the institution under study could not be demonstrated to illustrate a difference in the communication behavior skills of its graduates from graduates from the same institution who did not attend communication skills training. Trained graduates, however, were more aware of communication behavior skills as being preferred by their patients than their peers who were not trained in communication behavior skills training during their undergraduate studies.