Role Play versus Small Group Discussion in Teaching Prescription Communication Skills: A Comparative Study on students of Phase Two of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Course

INTRODUCTION: Inadequate prescription communication skills of the medical graduates lead to poor therapeutic outcome and increased burden on the healthcare system. This gap has to be addressed through effective methods for teaching prescription communication skills to medical students. This study compared the effectiveness of Role play and Small Group Discussion (SGD) in teaching prescription communication skills to students of Phase Two of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course. METHODS: This was a prospective interventional study done in the Department of Pharmacology affiliated to the Department of Surgery at a Tertiary Care Centre in North Kerala for a period of 3 months from March 2021 to May 2021. After obtaining ethical clearance and informed consent, students of Phase Two of the MBBS course students (n=60) were selected by convenience sampling and divided into 2 groups by simple randomisation. The groups were taught prescription communication skills by Role play and SGD, respectively. Each group received six independent interventions on different topics. An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was conducted 1 week after each session for both groups. At the end of six sessions, feedback on the sessions was collected through a perception questionnaire. Quantitative data were compared using independent t-test. Ordinal data were expressed as percentages. Statistical analysis was done using online statistical calculators. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Mean OSCE scores for each session was significantly higher in the Role play group than the SGD group. Mean total OSCE score of the Role play group was significantly higher than the SGD group (60.39±6.33, 47.79±4.27, P <0.001). CONCLUSION: Role play is more effective than SGD in teaching prescription communication skills to MBBS students. Students have shown more favourable perception towards Role play than SGD for teaching prescription communication skills.