Role of Attitude, Ethics, and Communication Module in Assessing Communication Skills among 1st-year Indian Medical Students

Background: Effective communication and interpersonal skills are vital for an eminent doctor–patient relationship. This must be adhered throughout the medical career and has become a must-know competency for standardized teaching and assessment in medical curriculum. Probably, a relative lack of res...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Surajit Kundu, Richa Gurudiwan, Samta Tiwari, Sumati G Kundu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publisher 2025-06-01
Series:Bengal Physician Journal
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Online Access:https://www.apibpj.com/doi/BPJ/pdf/10.5005/jp-journals-10070-8089
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Summary:Background: Effective communication and interpersonal skills are vital for an eminent doctor–patient relationship. This must be adhered throughout the medical career and has become a must-know competency for standardized teaching and assessment in medical curriculum. Probably, a relative lack of research on the effects of specific communication training has been felt in at the beginning of the medical degree program. The newly developed attitude, ethics, and communication (AETCOM)-based communication training (offered by Medical Council of India/National Medical Commission, New Delhi) is a worthy approach to promote and improve the communicative skills among medical students. This article shows the usefulness of an early AETCOM intervention on patient–physician communication in medical curriculum among the newly joined medicos. Materials and methods: First-phase MBBS students of Government Medical College, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, participating in current project were enlightened and assessed for an efficacious interpersonal communication skill. The survey consisted of a self-assessment of their skills as well as a standardized expert rating and an evaluation by means of Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) and Kalamazoo Essential Elements Communication Checklist (KEECC) questionnaire, as an essential element of AETCOM. Results: Students exhibited a considerable increase in communication skills in newly developed AETCOM module-based training. It was also observed that, among the 100 students, the mean score for positive attitude was 61.45 and the mean score for negative attitude was 29.66 from CSAS, showing a direct indicator that first-phase students have an optimistic attitude toward learning communication skills. Conclusion: Factual results of the study reflected that AETCOM-based training enabled students to acquire technical competence in communication and must be implemented throughout the MBBS teaching–learning program. These findings may be used to establish new literature review-based future communication training strategies.
ISSN:2582-1202