Patient attitudes towards medical students at Damascus University teaching hospitals

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Abir Y Koudsi¹  Hyam N Bashour²  Rima M Sayed-Hassan³ 

[1] Department of Family & Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria;Department of Family & Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, and Centre for Medical Education Development, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria;Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria;

关键词: Medical Student;    Clinical Teaching;    Maternity Hospital;    Arab World;    Medical Student Education;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-12-13

 received in 2011-11-02, accepted in 2012-03-22,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe cooperation of patients and their consent to involve medical students in their care is vital to clinical education, but large numbers of students and lack of experience as well as loss of privacy may evoke negative attitudes of patients, which may sometimes adversely affect the clinical teaching environment. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of patients towards medical students at Damascus University hospitals, and to explore the determinants of those attitudes thus discussing possible implications applicable to clinical teaching.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted at three teaching hospitals affiliated to the Faculty of Medicine at Damascus University. Four hundred patients were interviewed between March and April 2011 by a trained sociologist using a structured questionnaire.ResultsOf the patients interviewed, 67.8% approved the presence of medical students during the medical consultation and 58.2% of them felt comfortable with the presence of students, especially among patients with better socio-economic characteristics. 81.5% of the patients agreed to be examined by students in the presence of the supervisor, while 40.2% gave agreement even in the absence of the supervisor. Privacy was the most important factor in the patients' reticence towards examination by the students, whilst the relative safety and comfort if a supervisor was available determined patients' agreement.ConclusionsThe study concluded overall positive attitudes to the medical students' involvement in medical education. However, it is essential that students and clinical supervisors understand and adhere to professional and ethical conduct when involving patients in medical education.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Sayed-Hassan et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012