PurposeNonverbal communication (NVC) is important in the patient-physician relationship, but the effect of NVC education is not well kown. In this study, we try to identify if students’ NVC abilities are improved through communication training.MethodsFirst-year medical students conducted medical interviews, which were performed with standardized patients (SPs) before and after communication skill education, and recorded in video. Fifty-one students were enrolled for this study. Two researchers used the NVC checklist, which consists of 12 nonverbal behaviors, to analyze and compare the students’ nonverbal expressions in the interviews recorded before and after the education.ResultsAfter the students participated in communication training, open body position and adequate facial expression were increased while unnecessary silence, un-purposive movements, and giggling were decreased. These results can be interpreted as positive effects of the education. However, hand gesture was increased as a negative effect of the education. The total NVC score of the 12 nonverbal behaviors in the NVC checklist improved significantly, rising from 8.56 to 10.03.ConclusionCommunication skill education using SPs can improve nonverbal behaviors of medical students, especially facial expression, un-purposive movement, body position, unnecessary silence, and giggle, but not hand gesture. Further research is needed on a variety of teaching methods to improve NVCs.

Agenda setting should be emphasized in the communication skills curriculum of medical students. The Korean Clinical Skills Exam must assess medical students' ability to set an agenda.

PurposeNonverbal communication (NVC) may be a crucial factor affecting effective communication between patients and medical students during the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), but it has not been intensively studied. We examined NVC and its correlation with patient-physician interaction (PPI) in the OSCE.MethodsA total of 68 video recordings of routine check-up OSCEs were included. A checklist for NVC was developed that included seven nonverbal factors in a mute state (NVM) and four nonverbal factors in speech (NVS), and one point was assigned to each factor. The scores for history taking, PPI, NVM, and NVS were compared, and correlations of each score were evaluated.ResultsStudents with adequate facial expressions, accorded speech rate and voice volume, adequately matched voice tone, and few or no moments of unnecessary silence showed better PPI scores. The PPI score was correlated with history taking and the NVS score, but not the NVM score.ConclusionOur results suggest that NVS may be more influential to PPI during OSCEs than NVM. Communication teachers should help students to be better prepared to use both NVS and NVM properly.