Theory: Communication skills are an essential component of undergraduate medical curricula across countries. Presently, young doctors still recognize gaps in their training in this filed. Despite the existence of a number of consensus statements and models concerning communication skills teaching within medical education, current training programs are widely heterogeneous and there is scarce common outcome-based research. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that undergraduate communication skills training programs, relying either on practice-oriented or theory-based teaching strategies and within a different time range, may influence young doctors' preparedness for practice regarding communication skills. The present study intends to inform educational background and to support further development of communication skills curricula. Methods: Two hundred sixty-six medical interns answered an original questionnaire specifically designed to explore how well they feel their undergraduate training had prepared them in key aspects of medical communication. Items comprised the competencies set out in published literature and the preliminary version of the questionnaire was scrutinized by undergraduate and postgraduate medical educators, as well as experts on communication inhealthcare. An Exploratory Factorial Analysis was performed and the instrument's psychometric properties were tested. Medical schools' curricula were reviewed, allowing characterization of curricular content, timing and number of curricular units covering communication skills teaching. In order to explore potential associations between academic curricula and medical interns' preparedness for practice, hypothesis testing with Mann-Whitney U tests for independent samples was performed.Results: Core communication and interviewing skill were highly rated. Perceived preparedness was lower in aspects concerning dealing with emotion, breaking bad news, and communicating with speech impaired patients. Interns who were offered a longitudinal integration of communication skills throughout the curriculum reported significantly higher levels of preparedness. Simulation with standardized patients and real patient interviewing with feedback on communication skills were the most valued strategies to positively influence preparedness.We found no evidence for the advantage of role play, didactic videos and patient-simulation with mannequins.
Conclusion:The results of this study support the expansion of an educational model based on integrated communication skills training throughout undergraduate medical curriculum.Programs standing on a strong experimental component, particularly combining patientsimulation strategies with continuous supervision and learner centered feedback, significantly influenced preparedness. Efforts should be made to adopt such strategies in a customized and interactive format, tailored to medical students' different learning needs.
