Introduction:The practice of comprehensive clinical care of the individual is a challenge faced by medical educators, educational institutions, and researchers seeking to contribute to the development of students' educational skills that combine knowledge, skills and attitudes for this model. Objective:To evaluate the impact of communication skills training in the practice of the clinical method of comprehensive clinical care, with or without the use of a specific medical record. Methods: Forty-six students in the 7th Period of medical school participated in the study. A combination of educational activities was used to facilitate the acquisition of communication skills for comprehensive clinical care, including: a modeling example, followed by individual reflection and discussion, an interactive lecture, and the use of a specific medical appointment for comprehensive clinical care of the individual (RACIP). The study was divided into four Phases: Phase 1 − Pre-training: filming of clinical care in a simulated environment, carried out by the 46 students, using the current medical appointment in the HC-UFMG. Phase 2 − Training: students were divided into three groups: G1: performed an educational activity not related to clinical care; G2 and G3: received communication skills training. Phase 3 − Evaluation: filming of a consultation in a simulated environment, performed by all the groups, with G1 and G3 using RACIP, and G2, the current medical appointment model. Phase 4 − Feedback and learning opportunity for all the groups. The videos of the clinic visits performed by the students, pre-and post-training, were evaluated by a panel consisting of three evaluators, using the AVACIP instrument (evaluation of comprehensive clinical care of the individual). This takes into account five domains: the initial approach to the consultation; the patient's expectations; the patient's perspective of his/her illness; behavior and lifestyle habits; use of complementary propaedeutic and therapeutic alliance. Results: The total positive attitude score for each group was higher in Phase 3 than in Phase 1 (p = 0.001), showing that all the strategies promoted an improvement in communication skills, but there were no differences between groups in each phase (p > 0.310). Analyzing the scores by domain, it was observed that G3 performed better than the others. Conclusion: The communication skills training and the use of the RACIP improved the students' performance in relation to comprehensive clinical care of the individual.