Background:

effective medical communication during health promotion and prevention is a professional challenge faced by higher medical education in Cuba.

Objective:

to characterize the development of communication skills in Medicine students of the Medical Sciences Branch of Palma Soriano municipality, Santiago de Cuba province.

Methods:

a descriptive research was carried out during the 2018-2019 academic year. Theoretical methods were used: analysis-synthesis and inductive-deductive, and empirical ones: observation, in-depth interviews with teachers and students, and focal group; the comparison of sources and methodology was carried out and everything was based on the dialectical-materialist approach.

Results:

difficulties were identified in the communicative performance of the students, it is appreciated that they have theoretical mastery over communicative skills, but relegate them to the background with respect to clinical and technical skills. It is considered that the professors are dissatisfied with the preparation that the students show in their community communicative performance and recognize that the didactic treatment in favor of communicative skills is insufficient. It was also found that, in the opinion of the students, communication skills will be acquired and developed during the daily postgraduate medical practice, and they did not make an active and conscious effort to improve them.

Conclusions:

the communication skills of the students were characterized, still insufficient for effective communication in the doctor-community relationship; there is insufficient didactic and theoretical-practical treatment of these skills.

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