The Importance of Developing Communication Skills in Students from the Public Health Inspector Specialty

Introduction: The problem of developing the communication culture of future public health inspectors (PHIs) is considered to be of practical importance and requires special attention during their basic training.Aim: To identify the need for public health inspector communication skills development during the training process at the Medical College (MC).Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey of 116 inspectors working in the system of the Regional Health Inspection (RHI) in seven regional cities was conducted, as were interviews with 16 experts in the field of public health, 21 young inspectors (who finished their education over the last 5 years), and 30 students in the specialty of Public Health Inspector at the Medical College of Varna.Results: Over half of the surveyed inspectors (56.9%) consider that they need to have specific communication skills in their work. The majority of students and young professionals interviewed (80%) stated a need for additional training on topics related to professional communication. Conclusion: The fundamentals of all specialized knowledge and competences for the acquisition of communication skills should be laid during the PHIs’ training in the MC. This should be achieved through a specialized training course as part of the mandatory curriculum