Abstract
BackgroundCommunication skills are essential in a patient-centred health service and therefore in medical teaching. Although significant differences in communication behaviour of male and female students are known, gender differences in the performance of students are still under-reported. The aim of this study was to analyse gender differences in communication skills of medical students in the context of an OSCE exam (OSCE = Objective Structured Clinical Examination).MethodsIn a longitudinal trend study based on seven semester-cohorts, it was analysed if there are gender differences in medical students’ communication skills. The students (self-perception) and standardized patients (SP) (external perception) were asked to rate the communication skills using uniform questionnaires. Statistical analysis was performed by using frequency analyses and t-tests in SPSS 21.ResultsAcross all ratings in the self- and the external perception, there was a significant gender difference in favour of female students performing better in the dimensions of empathy, structure, verbal expression and non-verbal expression. The results of male students deteriorated across all dimensions in the external perception between 2011 and 2014.Discussion & conclusionIt is important to consider if gender-specific teaching should be developed, considering the reported differences between female and male students.
Highlights
Communication skills are essential in a patient-centred health service and in medical teaching
The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) exam is a circuit of brief examinations, in which the students must demonstrate their communication skills and practical abilities by completing different tasks at each station, including history talking or physical examinations involving standardized patients (SP) where required in different medical specialities [19,20,21,22,23]
While in cohort studies the same persons are interviewed at regular intervals, trend studies pursue the target to survey different persons of the same population at regular intervals
Summary
Communication skills are essential in a patient-centred health service and in medical teaching. The OSCE exam is a circuit of brief examinations, in which the students must demonstrate their communication skills and practical abilities by completing different tasks at each station, including history talking or physical examinations involving SP where required in different medical specialities [19,20,21,22,23]. In the OSCE exam, female students have significantly better results in the communicative sections than their male counterparts [33] and show a better performance in most of the stations [34]. Female students are more sensitive in the doctor-patient relationship, but feel significantly less confident than male students in the OSCE [35] It remains unclear whether the gender differences in communication performance in the OSCE could be the result of SP’s gender, because male and female SPs may sometimes differ in how they rate examinees overall [26, 36]. Other studies demonstrate a significant influence of the SP gender: male students performed worse when interacting with male SP, and all students performed better when interacting with the female counterparts [37]
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