First and 2nd-year medical students participated as standardized patients in practice for the medical interview. This practice was effective both for students playing doctors for learning medical communication skill and for students playing as a patients for allowing them to understand the patient's situation.

Practice in medical interviewing was held for 5th-and 6th-year medical students during their clinical clerkships. The purpose of the program was to acquire interviewing skills, to communicate with patients by considering the patient's point of view, and to obtain proper medical information. Communication skills and patients' medical problems were discussed after the interview. Students had difficulty obtaining appropriate medical information considering the patients' point of view. They professed an interest in communication skills and relationships between patients and doctors, but their concern after interview practice apparently shifted to collecting medical information and to their lack of knowledge essential for diagnosis. Students were satisfied with this training program and believed it was useful. Practice in medical interviewing in the last years of medical school is effective for teaching communication skills and for obtaining appropriate medical information.