Table 2 Means and standard deviations of expert-rated communication skills prior to the lessons in the 2009 cohort (rating scale: 1 = very good; 6 = insufficient)

exploration

PMS^†

3.50

.95

.00

1.00

SCS

3.50

1.09

emotion

PMS

5.25

1.21

1.43

.16

SCS

4.58

1.38

summarisations

PMS

3.60

1.31

-0.27

.79

SCS

3.75

1.86

structuring

PMS

2.80

.83

.18

.86

SCS

2.75

.62

empathy

PMS

3.30

.98

.88

.39

SCS

3.00

.85

global

PMS

3.60

.82

.31

.76

SCS

3.50

1.00