Patientsʼ attitudes to medical students in the accident and emergency department

Do patients have an obligation to participate in student teaching?

“…Most studies suggest that 90–98% of patients are willing to participate in student teaching, enjoy their interaction with students and are comfortable in disclosing personal information to students. High levels of acceptance of the involvement of medical students in patient care have been reported in emergency departments, 4 general medicine, 5 ear, nose and throat departments 6 and general practice 7 . By contrast, studies in obstetric settings have found that 25–40% of antenatal patients are unwilling to have medical students involved in their intrapartum care and a further 20–30% of patients prefer a student of the same sex 8 …”

Differences in learning objectives during the labour ward clinical attachment between medical students and their midwifery preceptors

“…High levels of acceptance of medical student involvement in patient care have been reported in accident and emergency centres, general practice, general medicine and specialty clinics. In these settings up to 98% of patients are willing to involve a medical student in their care 3–5 . In contrast, acceptance rates for medical student involvement in intrapartum obstetric care are lower, at 62–75% 4,5 .…”

Medical and midwifery students: how do they view their respective roles on the labour ward?

“…Up to 98% of patients will accept medical student involvement in emergency outpatient and general practice settings. 5,6 In contrast, only 62-75% of patients will accept medical student involvement in their intrapartum care. 3,4 In view of the increasing difficulties in gaining access to patients, it is timely to determine to what extent medical and midwifery student teaching of intrapartum aspects of obstetric care might be performed as a co-operative effort between obstetric and midwifery disciplines.…”