Evaluating the patient sociodemographic factors affecting dental students' clinical communication skills using a three-perspective approach.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess undergraduate dental students' communication skills in relation to patient sociodemographic factors using a three-perspective approach; the student, the patient, and the clinical instructor perspective. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using validated modified-communication tools; Patient Communication Assessment Instruments (PCAI), Student Communication Assessment Instruments (SCAI), and Clinical Communication Assessment Instruments (CCAI). Moreover, 176 undergraduate clinical year students were recruited in this study whereby each student was assessed by a clinical instructor, a patient, and self-evaluation. RESULTS: The clinical communication skills domains were not significantly influenced by patient sociodemographic factors, including sex, educational background, and the number of visits (p > .05). However, this study revealed a statistically significant difference in the domain of "caring and respectful" of the SCAI between the low- and middle-income groups. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, most of the patient sociodemographic factors did not affect clinical communication skills. However, patient income groups played a significant role in one of the communication domains.

Evaluation of dental students' clinical communication skills from three perspective approaches: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: The communication skills of clinicians are very crucial in providing better health outcomes for patients. Therefore, this study aimed to assess undergraduate dental students' communication skills in relation to their demographics and clinical setting using a three-perspective approach; the student, the patient and the clinical instructor perspective. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using validated modified-communication tools; Patient Communication Assessment Instruments (PCAI), Student Communication Assessment Instruments (SCAI) and Clinical Communication Assessment Instruments (CCAI) which included four communication domains. One hundred and seventy-six undergraduate clinical year students were recruited in this study whereby each of them was assessed by a clinical instructor and a randomly selected patient in two settings: Dental Health Education (DHE) and Comprehensive Care (CC) clinic. RESULTS: Comparing the three perspectives, PCAI yielded the highest scores across all domains, followed by SCAI and CCAI (p < .001). SCAI exhibited a better score in Year 5 compared to Year 3 and Year 4 (p = .027). The male students perceived they performed better than females in all domains (p < .05). Patients rated the students higher in the DHE clinic as compared to the CC clinic for the team interaction domain. CONCLUSION: There was an upward pattern of the communication skills score rated from the clinical instructor perspective to the student and patient perspectives. The use of PCAI, SCAI and CCAI collectively gave a complementary view of students' communication performance in all the domains assessed.