Korean J Med Educ.  2010 Dec;22(4):269-274.

Correlations of Communication and Interpersonal Skills between Medical Students and Residents

• Park WB
• Phyo SR
• Jang EY
• Kang SH
• Myung SJ
• Shin HY
• Lee YS
• Shin JS

Abstract

PURPOSE
Medical students' communication and interpersonal skills can be evaluated by standardized patients in a clinical performance examination (CPX). The purpose of this study is to investigate which communication and interpersonal skills are more closely correlated between medical students and residents.
METHODS
This study included 2nd-year residents in 2009 who took the eight-station CPX as 4th-year medical students in 2006. In-patients who were cared for by the residents were asked the seven items related to interpersonal and communication skills. The correlation between the scores of these seven items in the 2006 CPX and the scores in the 2009 patient survey was evaluated.
RESULTS
Twenty-six residents, 11 in medical wards and 15 in surgical wards, participated in the study. The medical students' total scores tended to be correlated with the residents' scores (r=0.381, p=0.055). There was significant correlation between the scores for students and residents for 'Explaining more explicably' (r=0.470, p=0.015), and marginally significant correlation (r=0.385, p=0.052) for 'Listening attentively.' There was no significant correlation for the other five items.
CONCLUSION
'Explaining more explicably' and 'Listening attentively', these skills were more closely correlated between medical students and residents. These basic communication skills should be included in graduate or licensing evaluations.

Keyword

Physician-patient relations; Communication; Interpersonal relations; Clinical competence

MeSH Terms

Clinical Competence
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Licensure
Physician-Patient Relations
Students, Medical