• Hana Ahmad Taha, Jawaher Khaled Al Saqer, Noora Rashed Al Harbi, Rand Nidal Younis, Fatma Al Dawoud, Mohammed Bassam Nawaiseh, and Vanja Berggren.
• Department of Pharmacology, Public Health, and Clinical Skills, Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, 13133, Jordan.
• Patient Prefer Adher. 2023 Jan 1; 17: 629641629-641.

BackgroundMedical students' involvement in patients' care varies according to patient's willingness, as some might consider it a privacy invasion. Thus, exploring patients' perceptions and attitudes towards this interaction should be thoroughly investigated, to better understand it and to provide evidence-based data for improving the training of future doctors.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at Jordan University Hospital. A questionnaire was answered by 420 patients from the out-patients' clinics.ResultsOf the patients interviewed, 94% were aware that they were in a teaching hospital, 92% approved the presence of medical students during their consultation and 80% accepted to be observed and examined by medical students in the presence of a senior doctor. However, this decreased to 30.5% if there was no senior doctor. Almost 83% of the patients believed that their consent should be obtained first. However, only 58% of them indicated that the student asked for consent prior to interacting with them. Patients who were more likely to approve the existence of medical students during consultation and allow students to perform procedures on them, respectively, were those who were asked for consent by students (P = 0.001 and P = 0.021), considered seeing medical students' enjoyable (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001), thought that their privacy was not violated (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001), and were provided with useful information about their health problems (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001).ConclusionPatients showed an overall positive stance towards the involvement of medical students in their healthcare. The majority were delighted to see medical students while some expressed concerns over their privacy due to the large number of students and because several students do not ask for their consent. It is essential to apply medical ethics practices together with patient-centered approach.© 2023 Taha et al.

7 keywords...

hide…