Abstract
Good communication skills have become a useful asset in building an honest doctor patient relationship. It has become an indigenous part of comprehensive medical care. Cross-sectional observational study was conducted after Institutional Ethics Committee permission. Demographic information and CSAS was administered to students and collected after 20-30 minutes. Total 400 undergraduate medical students, 100 students from each of first, second, third and fourth year of MBBS course were included. CSAS consists of 26 items, of which 13 were positive and 13 were negative statements. In CSAS scale, mean PAS was 55.53±11.12 and mean NAS was 30.55±13.66. In female medical students PAS was 52.96±10.12 statistically significant (p=0.013) compared to male students PAS of 50.21± 11.89. In female medical students NAS was 29.64±12.80 statistically significant (p=0.034) compared to males NAS of 32.24±11.57. In medical students with doctors parents PAS was 50.32±11.30 statistically significant (p=0.026) compared to medical students with non-doctors parents was 53.08±11.44. The PAS for students from rural address was 52.17±10.33 that was statistically significant (p=0.027) compared to PAS for Urban address 50.14±10.34. The average self rating score for communication skills was 6.06±1.52. 92% students feel need to improve their communication skills and 55.52% preferred role play method for learning communication skills. There is destitution in positive attitude and negative attitude of communication skills in medical undergraduates. Communication skills need to be assessed in undergraduate medical students in India.