By ANNE-MARIE TOBIN TORONTO (CP) - Doctors who score poorly in the communication portion of a skills examination they take before becoming licensed are more likely to be the subjects of complaints to regulatory authorities later when they're practising physicians, says a new Canadian study.

THE competence of 35 doctors was called into question last year, according to a report from the Medical Council of New Zealand.

By Stephanie Earls, Albany Times Union, N.Y. May 29--When Issam Koleilat was a first-year student at Albany Medical College, he settled in front of a hospital patient to take a history -- a standard first-step in diagnosis. "Have you ever seen a shrink?" Koleilat asked.

By Curtis L. Taylor, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Dec. 19--Four doctors rush into an operating room at Stony Brook University Medical Center and begin working quickly on a man with a possible heart attack. Every second counts. The patient's blood pressure is dropping rapidly.

By DAVID B.