BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Creating Multifaceted Allied Health Professionals with Skilled Hands and The Power of Words
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Pharmacology, J.N. Medical College, Belagavi, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, Deemed-to-be-University, Belagavi, Karnataka, India, Belagavi, India
- 2Department of Pharmacology, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Mumbai, India
- 3Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Nair Hospital Dental College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Mumbai, India
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Background: Allied health professionals (AHPs) are a crucial cog in the wheel of the healthcare industry. AHPs contribute immensely to public health and wellbeing. Employable AHPs, must be created through a multi-faceted approach which empowers them not merely with technical expertise, but also effective articulation. This study was planned to assess the effectiveness of patient centered communication skill training in improving communication skills and patient satisfaction in undergraduate allied health students. Methods: The present study was an educational study using pre post study design. The total duration was six months. Universal sampling was followed. Hence, 65 suitable students admitted to various allied health programs in the academic year 2022-23 were recruited, Students were trained through a communication skills training module. Students were assessed before and after training by faculty and patients using The Kalamazoo Essential Elements Communication Checklist (KEECC) and The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) Short Form respectively. Results: Significant improvement in communication skill and patient satisfaction scores were found after training as indicated by significant p values in the paired t test. Conclusion: The present study proves that enhancing patient focused communication of allied health professionals who are healthcare's work horses with skilled hands, improves patient satisfaction. Policy makers of public health and health science institutions should take cognizance of the fact that, empowering these professionals through a multifaceted approach involving honing their technical acumen, patient centered communication and teamwork will help in creating a workforce which meets the demands of contemporary healthcare and will positively impact public health.
Keywords: allied health1, communication2, Healthcare3, skills4, professionals5
Received: 07 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kagal, Jalgaonkar, Gupta and Hashilkar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Urmila Kagal, urmilakagal@gmail.com
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