A model to educate and evaluate communicative abilties of medical students

Abstract

Communication skills are recognized as an essential competency in health professionals. Nowadays, it is
important to develop them in order to instil professionalism in medicine students and graduates. In the
present paper, we describe a course designed to optimize communication with patients and colleges, for
medicine students on the sixth year of their University studies, who also received a related doctor-patient
course during the first year. It is a five-weeks optional course, partially online and with five face-to-face
sessions, and a final evaluation. The subjects and the role-play methodology used in the group sessions are
described here. For the continuous and final evaluation, a multi-feedback is developed, based on the
reflexive opinion from each student involved, the peers and faculty members. Essential conditions to give
feedback are outlined and a brief survey at the end of our course is included.
As an initial conclusion, the course would contribute to the integral education of our students enhancing
these essential skills. The role-play method as well as the multi-feedback are highly valued by students and
faculty members.