Objective To analyze the residents' ability of physician-patient communication in department of otolaryngology head and neck surgery, and to investigate the needs of courses for physician-patient communication ability training.Methods An online survey was conducted on 42 residents. The questionnaire included five items: the information about participants, the survey on communication practices, the content of communication, the awareness of communication, the training needs for communication ability.Results 57.1% (24/42) of the residents considered their communication skills not very well; 88.1% (37/42) of the residents thought that the communication was very important; all residents agreed to communicate with the patients about diagnosis and treatment plan about the disease, risks for surgery, treatment effects and prognosis and perioperative precautions; and the doctors too busy to communicate was the most important influence factor for communication; 81.0% (34/42) of the residents wanted to attend courses for improving communication skills. The most popular approach is to be taught by experienced supervisors.Conclusions The physician-patient communication ability need to be improved in residents, and there was a high demand for training courses, the multiform courses for improving physician-patient communication ability would be set up in the future.