Initial assessment of communication skills of intern doctors in history-taking

As in many other countries, in Bangladesh there is an increasing public dis satisfaction with the medical profession. In the observation of the researc her, this dissatisfaction is not due to the lack of clinical competence but dire to problems of communication. A qualitative survey was done to find o ut the extent to which the intern doctors display communication skills. The study, was conducted among 25 intern doctors of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Bangladesh by using three sets of research instruments. The resul ts indicated that intern doctors were very poor in communicating with their patients during history-taking. The major incompetences observed in commun ication skills during history-taking were: exploring patients' psychosocial concerns, providing empathy, discussing patients' personal issues and begi nning and ending interviews. Other deficit areas identified were lack of wa rmth towards the patient, failure to keep the patient to relevant matters a nd the use of poor question styles during history-taking. The identified ar eas of deficit in competences in the sample can help to derive a prioritize d checklist to organize the course content of communication skills training for history-taking in Bangladesh.