Perception of Medical Students about Communication Skills Laboratory (CSL) in a Rural Medical College of Central India

Introduction: "The art of medicine is intricately tied to the art of communication." In traditional medical curriculum, communication is not taught formally and this leads to a gap in reliability and consistency of the teaching. Few studies have shown that much litigation against doctors is due to lack of communication and not because of lack of clinical expertise. Considering the importance of training in communication skills, it was included in the curriculum of students of DMIMS (DU), which has got probably the first communication skills lab in a medical college in India. Aim: To study the perception of medical students about usefulness of communication skills lab. Materials and Methods: This observational study was carried out at Communication Skills Lab (CSL) of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Sawangi (M), Wardha, Maharasthra. Feedback was obtained with the help of a prevalidated questionnaire from 65 final MBBS students about their perception about utility of the module taught in the CSL including factors which helped and which hindered in learning. Descriptive statistics was used for the quantitative data and categorization for qualitative data. Results: A total of 78.46% students were of the idea that CSL posting is must for all medical undergraduates. A 93.83% perceive that the module taught was very relevant and useful and were satisfied with the duration of posting (81.47%). A 78.46% students experienced improvement in their communication skills. They opined that more emphasis should be given on communication between doctor and patient (61.53%). Conclusion: The students found communication skills lab very useful. They desired more emphasis on communication between doctor and patient and sought more interactivity, video demonstrations to be part of the module.