Bioethical precepts and communication skills assessed by the osce in clerkship students

Aims: Qualitatively assessement communication skills and medical ethical knowledge acquired during graduation, through the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), of clerkship students of the Medical School of São José do Rio Preto - SP/BR. Methods: Research with cross-sectional observational design, qualitative and quantitative methodologies, consisting of taking an OSCE and preceded by a questionnaire, applied to clerkship students, dealing with the content of the Code of Medical Student Ethics (CMSE). Results: 29 academics answered the questionnaire and of these 19 took the OSCE. The knowledge assessment about CMSE showed a predominance of good and very good evaluation grades, 51.8% and 27.6%, respectively. The categories with the most satisfactory performances were empathic communication and accessible communication (71.1% and 66.7%), with satisfactory evaluation grades. In the OSCE, the lowest performances were in the categories of autonomy and beneficence, both with 31.6% of satisfactory, while assertive communication and non-maleficence had an intermediate performance (54% and 47.4%), of satisfactory. Conclusions: The study showed that the knowledge of FAMERP medical clerkship students about CMSE, although relatively adequate in general terms, lacks improvement and association of this knowledge with practical scenarios and academic routines and the results presented herein denote the course's contribution, as it is currently structured, for the development of communication skills and for the applicability of medical ethical knowledge and, therefore, the regular to good performance for communication skills, the same is tolerable for the principles of patient autonomy and beneficence/non-maleficence.