Background: Doctor-patient communication and patient-centeredness are of increasing importance to both doctors and the public. Within a qualitative study we focussed on 4^th year medical students' selfperception of their own communicative competences, attitudes and their experiences during basic medical education. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with nine students. After verbatim transcription the interviews were analysed according to grounded theory. Results: Medical students define "good" doctor-patient- communication in terms of "efficacy" and "control". Medical students are concerned about the "right distance" to patients, which they perceive as a sign of professionalism. The results of our analysis show a discrepancy between students' acknowledgement of the importance of doctor-patient communication and a mostly emotional rejection of such educational content in the medical curriculum. Overwhelmed by the complexity of medicine, 4^th year students have nothing more in need as gaining control on their performance. Thus a patient-centred attitude to communication, which allows a certain amount of uncertainness, seems unfavourable for medical students at this stage of their professional development. Conclusions: Accepting this phenomenon may help to develop more student-centred approaches in education on medical communication.