Students attitude and response towards communication skills course at the College of Medicine, Taibah University

Introduction:Effective communication skills (CS) have positive outcome on patient-care. This component of undergraduate medical curriculum is quite a neglected one and by adopting proper teaching strategies these skills can be improved.Objective:To assess the students’ perception of the existing CS course at the College of Medicine Taibah University Saudi Arabia, and to evaluate their suggestions on how they want it to be.Methods:During the academic year 2011-2012, a questionnaire containing eight close-ended and three open-ended questions was administered to the 3rd year medical students, after they had finished the CS course. The participants were informed about the survey and verbal consent was attained. The information gathered from close-ended questions was analyzed by Excel Microsoft Office 2007, and the themes generated from the open-ended questions were organized in a tabulated form for further reference.Results:Out of 115 students (63 females and 52 males), 109 responded (response rate of 94.7%). The respondents addressed their concerns about learning objectives of CS course, fewer lectures, need of more practical experience, integration of CS course into other major courses and the use of valid and reliable assessment.Conclusion:There is a need to address students concerns regarding adoption of proper teaching strategies, experiential learning, and assessment procedures during the CS course. Clear learning objectives, personalized feedback and practical student-centered teaching strategies replacing didactic lectures might lead to improvement in our medical graduates’ quality.