ABSTRACT
Communication between doctors and patients is an important way to establish good doctorpatient relationship.It is crucial to master doctor-patient communication skills and arts for general practitioners who will extensively serve the people in community for life-long time after completion of residency training.To improve the communication skills and to enhance the clinical competency of general practitioners,we applied the Balint special group activities as core of doctor-patient communication course in residency training program.Through 3 years of practice,we found that the application of Balint group enriched the teaching contents and form of general practice residency training;improved doctor-patient communication skills,and enhanced the competency and professionalism of general practice trainees.