Willingness and attitudes of the general public towards the involvement of medical students in their healthcare

Abstract

Objectives: To determine if patients allow medical students to perform less invasive procedures compared to more invasive procedures, and how this is related to patient demographics and previous experience with medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in six areas of Birmingham, UK. All members of the general public over the age of 18 were eligible, excluding non-English speaking people and those with cognitive impairments. Respondents were asked to rank their willingness for medical students to perform history taking/examinations and clinical procedures of varying degrees of invasiveness. Results: We received a total of 293 responses. For both history taking/examinations and clinical procedures, people were more willing to allow medical students to perform less invasive procedures rather than more invasive procedures. White and older people were more willing to allow all history taking/examinations procedures; additionally, women were more willing to allow history taking. White, female, and older participants were more willing to allow blood pressure measurement; whilst older people and those with previous experience were more willing to allow venepuncture. No significant associations were found for intubation. Conclusions: The public is less willing for medical students to perform more invasive procedures. This may severely limit opportunities to attain clinical competencies.

Patients’ Perspectives towards Bedside Teaching of Medical Students: an Analytical Cross Sectional Study in Tertiary Care Hospitals

“…Same findings were revealed where participants show willingness for history, examination and less invasive procedures but not for more invasive procedures by medical students. [9][10][11] The participants were doubtful for clinical examination with proper exposure in the students' presence which even increased with students alone. It is similar to a study where more patients preferred only the senior doctor to examine suggesting acceptance of students during history as compared to during examination.…”

“…9 Similarly, data from a study highlighted patients' perceptions of perceived benefits of having more information about their illness, at the same time they were not able to share with their consultants what they want to say. 10 Majority of participants in this study expressed discomfort feeling during history taking, which was increased while I benefit from interacting with students Students are able to understand my health needs *I felt discomfort in explaining health problems to senior doctor in the presence of students *I felt discomfort in discussing physical illness w ith students *I felt discomfort in discussing family problems with students *I felt discomfort in discussing sensitive information with students *Consultation's duration was prolonged in student presence *I felt inconvenience while examination by senior doctor in the presence of students with taking off clothes *I felt inconvenience while examination by students in the absence of senior doctor with taking off clothes *I would prefer privacy with specialist/ senior doctor *I felt inconvenience with increase in examination duration *I felt discomfort when students perform clinical procedures *I would prefer doctor discussing about my problem in English I would prefer discussion of my illness in Urdu or local language I think students' presence is important for their training I think I provide a service to community by training students I think student's presence has positive effect on quality of consultation It would be better if I was informed about the presence of students It would be better if option was given whether to have students or not sharing sensitive information or even more during examination by students in the absence of senior. Same findings were revealed where participants show willingness for history, examination and less invasive procedures but not for more invasive procedures by medical students.…”

Willingness to adopt green house gas mitigation measures: Agricultural land managers in the United Kingdom

“…In line with existing studies, and specifically [ 84 , 85 ], the dependent variable was derived as the mean scores of scaled responses across all GHG mitigation measures for each respondent. Farmers’ willingness to adopt GHG mitigation measures was described based on a 5-point scale as follows: 1 = very unwilling; 2 = quite unwilling; 3 = neutral, 4 = quite willing and 5 = very willing.…”