<p>is it necessary to have excellent communication skills to be a successful physician?</p>
<p>Well you do need to communicate with patients and colleagues without confusing them, so your skills need to be adequate. If they're excellent that's always a plus, but as long as you can communicate effectively you'll be fine...</p>
<ul>
<li>fooshy</li>
</ul>
<p>probably not 'excellent' but yeah I would imagine that you would have to be able to talk to your patients in order to make a diagnosis.</p>
<p>how good do you have to be in english since it's my second language.</p>
<p>Poor communication may increase liability. See the 1997 Jama article <a href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/277/7/553%5B/url%5D">http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/277/7/553</a> and the reference to American Family Physician 1997 <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3225/is_n1_v56/ai_19617693%5B/url%5D">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3225/is_n1_v56/ai_19617693</a>.</p>
<p>Communication skills are crucial to being a doctor, resident, or clinical medical student. The science background is crucial, too, of course.</p>
<p>The fact that English is a second language does not necessarily mean you will be a poor communicator, however.</p>