Publication:

Non-verbal communication skills among teaching staff and medical students in a medical educational Institution in Khammam, Telangana, India

Background Non-verbal communication is generally defined as the aspect of communication that is not expressed in words. Through the use of non-verbal communication, teachers can draw student’s attention to more understanding and motivate students, and even bring excitement to the boredom students. Effective communication improves patient satisfaction. The objectives were to assess and to compare non-verbal communication skills among medical teaching staff and the students.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2022 to August 2022 in an educational institution. The data was collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was downloaded from Questmeraki website. The questions on non-verbal communication skills were quantified on a five-point Likert scale. The participants scores were categorized and compared.

Results As per the scores scored for non-verbal communication skills, among the teaching staff, 85.7% scored good score, and 14.3% scored excellent. Among the students, 82.1 scored good score, and 14.5% scored excellent. Though the teaching staff scored better than the students, the difference was not significant (p=0.068).

Conclusions It is necessary for the teaching staff and the students to practice and learn effective communication skills, so that, it helps in successful interaction with the students and the patients, and among themselves.