BackgroundIn medical education, feedback from students' is essential in course evaluation and development. Students at Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka complete a five year medical curriculum comprising of five different streams. We aimed to evaluate the five year medical curriculum at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.MethodsA qualitative research was conducted among recent graduates of the faculty. Students' opinions on strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum were collected via questionnaires, which were analysed and classified into common themes. A focus group discussion (FGD) based on these themes was conducted among two student groups, each comprising of a facilitator, two observers and nine students selected as a representative sample from questionnaire respondents. FGDs were conducted using a semi-structured set of open-ended questions to guide participants and maintain consistency between groups. The FGD evaluated the reasons behind students' perceptions, attitudes, emotions and perceived solution. Verbal and non-verbal responses were transcribed and analysed.ResultsQuestionnaire response rate was 82% (153/186). Students highlighted 68 and 135 different responses on strengths and weaknesses respectively. After analysis of both questionnaire and FGD results the following themes emerged: a well organized module system, increased frequency of assessments, a good variety in clinical appointments, lack of specific objectives and assessments at clinical appointments, community and behavioural sciences streams beneficial but too much time allocation, lengthy duration of course, inadequate knowledge provided on pharmacology and pathology.ConclusionWe demonstrate how a brief qualitative method could be efficiently used to evaluate a curriculum spanning a considerable length of time. This method provided an insight into the students' attitudes and perceptions of the present faculty curriculum. Qualitative feedback from students highlighted certain key areas that need attention and also possible solutions as perceived by the students'.

Background It is widely accepted that medical students should acquire and demonstrate proficiency in communication by the end of their undergraduate education although many students do not consider it as important as the clinical skills. This study identifies the attitudes of medical students towards, and the factors affecting learning of communication skills. Methods Descriptive cross sectional study was carried out with 162 final year medical students of Rajarata university of Sri Lanka. Their attitudes towards learning communication skills and factors affecting learning communication skills were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire with modified Communication Skills Assessment Scale incorporated with likert scale from a previous Sri Lankan study. Positive attitude scale (PAS) and negative attitude scale (NAS) questions were analyzed separately. Results The mean age of the students was 25.8 years. 53.7% (n=87) of students were females. Vast majority were Sinhalese (93.7%) and Buddhists (84.6%). Quarter (25.7%) of the students believed their communication skills were below average and 46.3% thought they are average. One third (34%) were comfortable when communicating with patients in a second language. Majority thought that the communication skills must be taught. 65.4% of the students asked for a separate module on communication skills in their curriculum. 73.5% wanted it to be done before clinicals. 34% opted for audio visual examples, and 35.8% thought role plays with colleagues were better. 61.7% thought that the busy work schedule in the prof unit prevent them from learning communication skills. Conclusions The medical students have understood the importance of learning communication skills for their medical carrier and they are interested in learning them. Therefore the medical education should put more weight on the communication skills adopting novel education strategies.