Difficulties of Students’ in Communication with Patients and their Perception of Difficult Patient

Objectives: This study aims to identify the difficulties that nursing and medicine students encounter in communicating with patients and perceptions of the characteristics of difficult patients. Methods:The study was conducted with 583 students (359 nursing students and 224 medicine students) in Akdeniz University Antalya School of Health and Faculty of Medicine.The data were obtained using the form "Difficult Patient Perception by Nursing and Medical Students and Identification of Difficult Patient Communications" and the "Communication Skills Inventory" form.Results: 75.8% of the nursing students and 92.0% of the medical students were found to encounter difficult patients, and "the non-communicative patients" were identified as difficult by both the nurse and medical student groups.The average general communication skill scores for the nursing and medical students on the Communication Skills Inventory were 118.27±13.29 and 117.55±10.48,respectively.The students were found to have difficulty communicating with difficult patients and need further communication instruction. Conclusion:Communication courses in the health education curriculum should be reorganized and become applied courses in order to facilitate communication between students and patients.