Introduction.In this article the problem of formation of communicative skills of professional communication of students of medical high School is considered.  Theoretical and methodological approaches to this problem are analyzed. The theoretical basis of the study was the work of MV Rodikov, LV Kochetova, Ln. Vasilyeva about the process of formation of readiness of students of medical University for interpersonal interaction in the professional sphere and in particular the formation of skills of building trust between the doctor and the patient. The authors identified individual and personal qualities necessary for the graduate in practice, such as: the ability to diagnose the social situation; skills of effective interaction with colleagues in the workplace; possession of verbal and non-verbal means of communication in building relationships with patients; rejection of all kinds of stereotypes of patient perception [5,6]. The assessment of such important professionally significant qualities in the formation of communicative competence of the future doctor, such as sociability, tolerance, empathy, goodwill, respect, attentiveness, restraint, flexibility [7, 15]. The authors highlight the psychological characteristics of the doctor, affecting the communicative competence, such as: emotional stability; sensitivity to negative attitude on the part of the patient; anxiety; depression [13]. The important qualities of the future specialist include: the ability to be convincing in conversation with the patient and his relatives, respect for colleagues and their opinion, especially when the issue concerns controversial clinical cases and requires open discussion [8,9,10]. It is noted that the success of the interaction between the doctor and the patient depends on the skills: the establishment of primary contact; elimination of possible contradictions (clash of views of the doctor and the patient); correction of conflict behavior of the patient during medical consultation; ability to inform the patient of "bad news" concerning his health; planning joint actions with the patient [4, 14,31].

Materials and methods. A study was conducted on the diagnosis of the ability to empathize in students of a medical university using the method of V. V. Boyko, the specifics of gender attitudes were determined using the «Sex-role questionnaire», the coping styles of behavior were studied using the method «Coping strategies indicator».

Results. The study are showed that 44.7% of respondents have an average level of empathic abilities, 53.2% – understated, 2.1% – very low. The girls is in 86.6%  the emotional channel of empathy prevailed, which allows the latter to easily enter into an emotional resonance with the other person. Among young men, 52.9% showed rational, 47.1% - intuitive channels of empathy. The analysis showed of the structure of coping behavior that the first place for both girls and boys (66.6% and 88.2%, respectively) was occupied by the problem-solving strategy. The second is the search for social support, which indicates the importance of social support at the initial stage of professional activity.

Discussion and Conclusions. It is noteworthy that among those surveyed, attitudes that limit emotional responsiveness prevailed, along with this, students used various empathy channels, allowing them to build the medical process most effectively in the future depending on the situation. The level of communicative competence of students did not differ in terms of "empathy" depending on the specialization. The active position was in the choice of coping strategies allow students to overcome the influence of various types of stress associated with future professional activities.