Objective　To investigate the mastery of clinical students' doctor-patient communi-cation skills and to assess the teaching effectiveness about the doctor-patient communication

and then propose some improvement ideas. Methods　We conducted a study in students of clinical medicine of Nanjing Medical University in Grade 2009

using Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) after internship

which included graduation assessment of doctor-patient communication skills. Then we analyzed the doctor-patient communication skills and related scores of students trained in different clinical medical programs. Results　The average score of doctor-patient communication skills of 549 students was （82.72±4.23）

of which

the average score of 329 five-year students of clinical medicine was （81.88±4.23） and the average score of seven-year students was （83.96±3.91） in. The average score of seven-year students of clinical medicine was significantly higher than five-year students (P=0.000). Moreover

there was a significant positive correlation between the total score of OSCE and the score of doctor-patient communication skills in both five-year and seven-year students of clinical medicine (five year program students' score correlation coefficient was 0.520

P=0.000; seven year pro-gram students' score correlation coefficient 0.416

P=0.000). Conclusion　The teaching effectiveness of doctor-patient communication has proved to be quite effective

and it is definitely of great significance in improving clinical students' doctor-patient communication skills. The score of the assessment of the doctor-patient communication reflects not only the training effectiveness of the communication skills

but also the comprehensive capacity.