Third year medical students perceptions towards learning communication skills: implications for medical education

Objective: To analyze students' perceptions towards learning communication skills pre-and-post training in a Communication and Clinical Skills Course (CCSC) at a Portuguese Medical School.

Methods: Content analysis was used to describe and systematically analyze the content written by students (n=215 from a total of 229) in an open-ended survey. In addition, content analysis association rules were used to identify meaning units.

Results: Students' pre-training definitions of communication skills were not specific; their post-training definitions were more precise and elaborated. Students perceived communications skills in Medicine as important (61%), but recommended that teaching methodologies (52%) be restructured. There appeared to be no connection between criticism of teaching skills performance and perceptions of the other aspects of the course.

Conclusion: Students' experiences at CCSC are associated with their perceptions of communications skills learning. Content analysis associations indicated that these perceptions are influenced by context.

Practice implications: Improvement of curricula, teaching and assessment methods, and investment in faculty development are likely to foster positive perceptions towards learning communication skills in these students.