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Medical Students' Attitudes (medical + student_attitude)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Medical student attitudes to risk taking and self-perceived influence on medical practice

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 8 2006
Michael Weissberg
Context, Little has been published on medical student risk-taking attitudes and behaviours and whether students think these attributes will affect how they treat patients. Objectives, Our aims were to assess for an association between risk-taking attitudes and behaviours, such as problematic substance use, self-reported risky behaviours, and self-reported accidents, and to test for an association between risk-taking attitudes and student perceptions of the influence of these attitudes on future clinical practice. Methods, Three consecutive classes of Year 2 medical students (n = 315) completed a self-administered, 29-item questionnaire. Risk-taking attitudes were evaluated using a 6-question, risk-taking scale adapted from the Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI). Results, A significant positive correlation was demonstrated between risk-taking attitudes (JPI) and problematic substance use (r = 0.34; P < 0.01), self-reported risky behaviours (r = 0.47; P < 0.01), and self-reported accidents (r = 0.33; P < 0.01). Students who did not think their attitudes toward risk would affect their clinical decision making scored significantly higher on our measure of risk-taking attitudes (t306 = , 4.60; P < 0.01). Students who did not think that their drinking, drug taking or sexual behaviour would affect how they counselled patients on these matters scored significantly higher on our measure of problematic substance use (t307 = , 2.51; P = 0.01). Conclusions, Although risk-taking attitudes have been associated with significant differences in clinical decision making among doctors, in our sample students with high risk-taking attitudes and behaviours were significantly less likely than their colleagues to think their attitudes would affect their clinical practice. Implications for medical education are discussed. [source]

Medical student attitudes toward the doctor,patient relationship

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 6 2002
Paul Haidet
Context, Medical educators have emphasized the importance of teaching patient-centred care. Objectives, To describe and quantify the attitudes of medical students towards patient-centred care and to examine: (a) the differences in these attitudes between students in early and later years of medical school; and (b) factors associated with patient-centred attitudes. Methods, We surveyed 673 students in the first, third, and fourth years of medical school. Our survey utilized the Patient,Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), a validated instrument designed to measure individual preferences towards various aspects of the doctor,patient relationship. Total PPOS scores can range from patient-centred (egalitarian, whole person oriented) to disease- or doctor-centred (paternalistic, less attuned to psychosocial issues). Additional demographic data including gender, age, ethnicity, undergraduate coursework, family medical background and specialty choice were collected from the fourth year class. Results, A total of 510 students (76%) completed data collection. Female gender (P < 0·001) and earlier year of medical school (P = 0·03) were significantly associated with patient-centred attitudes. Among fourth year students (n = 89), characteristics associated with more patient-centred attitudes included female gender, European-American ethnicity, and primary-care career choice (P < 0·05 for each comparison). Conclusion, Despite emphasis on the need for curricula that foster patient-centred attitudes among medical students, our data suggest that students in later years of medical school have attitudes that are more doctor-centred or paternalistic compared to students in earlier years. Given the emphasis placed on patient satisfaction and patient-centred care in the current medical environment, our results warrant further research and dialogue to explore the dynamics in medical education that may foster or inhibit student attitudes toward patient-centred care. [source]

Medical students' attitudes towards and perception of the basic sciences: a comparison between students in the old and the new curriculum at the University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 12 2002
Eugène J F M Custers
Objectives The attitudes towards the basic sciences of medical students enrolled in either of 2 different curricula at the University of Utrecht Medical School in The Netherlands were investigated. The purpose of this study was threefold: first, to compare students (beginning clerks) in a conventional and an innovative curriculum; second, to compare beginning clerks with advanced clerks; and third to compare the present results with those of 2 previous American and Canadian studies in which the same questionnaire was used. Setting Beginning clerks in the old and in the innovative curriculum, and advanced clerks in the old curriculum, rated 9 statements on a 5-point (disagree , agree) Likert scale. The statements assessed students' attitudes toward the basic sciences. Results The results showed that beginning clerks in our innovative curriculum, unlike those in a conventional curriculum, consider the basic sciences as somewhat less important for medical practice and do not think that as many biomedical facts as possible should be learned before entering clinical practice. On the other hand, students in the innovative curriculum are more excited by the faculty's teaching of the basic sciences. This latter result confirms the findings in a previous Canadian study. No significant differences were found between beginning and advanced clerks in the conventional curriculum. Conclusion Students experience teaching of the basic sciences as more exciting when they are integrated in organ system blocks with clinical bearings, though they are somewhat less positive about the actual importance of these sciences. [source]

The attitudes of ,tomorrow's doctors' towards mental illness and psychiatry: changes during the final undergraduate year

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2001
H. Baxter
Aims To compare the efficacy of two teaching styles, didactic teaching and problem based learning, in producing enduring change in final-year medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness. Method A 1-year follow-up questionnaire survey of two groups of medical students taught psychiatry in their fourth-year training by two different methods. One-year follow-up scores were compared with pre-attachment and post-attachment scores in the fourth year. Results 70 (68%) students completed both questionnaires at follow-up. The follow-up scores were significantly lower compared with both the fourth-year pre-attachment and post-attachment scores, suggesting that the positive change in attitudes following psychiatric training in the fourth year significantly decayed during the final year. The two teaching methods did not differ in the magnitude of this reduction. Conclusions The positive change that occurs in medical students' attitude towards psychiatry, psychiatrists and mental illness after their fourth-year psychiatric training is transient and decays over the final year. [source]

Evaluation of nursing and medical students' attitudes towards people with disabilities

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 15-16 2010
Hatice Sahin
Aims and objectives., The aim of this study is to assess the attitudes of students towards disabled people and provide suggestions to make necessary changes in the curricula. Background., Disabled people suffer from rejection, exclusion and discrimination. The undergraduate education of future health professionals should include processes of critical thinking towards and analysis of the disabled. Design., Cross-sectional design was used. Methods., All the preclinical medical and nursing students in our institution were included in study. Data were collected using the Turkish Attitudes towards Disabled Person Scale (TATDP) and demographical variables. TATDP Scale was scored according to five-point Likert Scale. Results., Students' mean attitude score is 120·57 (SD 15·24). Subscale mean scores are 53·61 (SD 7·25) for compassion (CP), 50·47 (SDS 7·26) for social value (SV) and 16·49 (SD 2·89) for resource distribution (RD). Whilst nursing students had less contact with the disabled, medical students had a closer contact with them. Medical students acquired more prior knowledge about attitudes towards the disabled. Total attitude scores of female students were above the students' mean attitude score when compared to those of male students. Conclusion., Only if early contact is established with patients and the disabled, practical educational strategies are adopted, and the students are provided with information on attitudes about the disabled, will a social model of disability be introduced into the curriculum. Relevance to clinical practice., This study results were presented to curriculum planning committees of nursing and medical schools, so that they should use them as needs assessment data in developing a disability awareness curriculum. The curriculum will be implemented in cooperation with not only schools but also other social institutions. For instance, clerkship applications will be accomplished by cooperating with nursing homes and organisations of disabled people. [source]

A systematic review of studies assessing and facilitating attitudes towards professionalism in medicine

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 8 2007
Vikram Jha
Objectives, An essential aspect of medical education is to facilitate the development and assessment of appropriate attitudes towards professionalism in medicine. This systematic review provides a summary of evidence for measures that have been used to assess these attitudes and their psychometric rigour. It also describes interventions that have been found to be effective in changing such attitudes. Methods, MEDLINE, EMBASE, ERIC, PsychINFO, Sociological Abstracts and CINAHL were searched from the respective start date of each database to May 2006. Three key journals and reference lists of existing reviews were also searched. Articles that were published in English and reported primary empirical research measuring medical students' attitudes towards medical professionalism were included. The findings are integrated in narrative structured in such a way as to address the research questions. Results, A total of 97 articles were included in the review. Most measures of attitudes assessed attitudes towards attributes of professionalism such as ethical issues, the patient,doctor relationship and cultural issues. Fourteen studies measured attitudes towards professionalism as a whole and 44 studies reported both the reliability and validity of measures. No interventions reported a change in attitudes over time. Conclusions, There is little evidence of reported measures that are effective in assessing attitudes towards professionalism in medicine as a whole. Likewise, there is scant evidence of interventions that influence attitude change over a period of time. Future studies should take into account the need to measure more global attitudes rather than attitudes towards specific issues in professionalism and the need to track attitudes throughout the curriculum. [source]

The attitudes of ,tomorrow's doctors' towards mental illness and psychiatry: changes during the final undergraduate year

Effects of a one-hour educational program on medical students' attitudes to mental illness

PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 5 2001
Yoshio Mino MD
Abstract A new 1-h educational program was developed to change attitudes towards mental illness, and was conducted on 95 first-year medical students in order to investigate its effects on their attitudes towards mental illness, using a pre- and postquestionnaire study design. A similar study without the program was conducted on 94 first-year medical students as controls. After the program, more students replied that they would accept former patients on relatively close social distance items. Favorable attitudinal changes were observed in terms of ,psychiatric services', ,human rights of the mentally ill', ,patients' independence in social life', and ,cause and characteristics of mental illness'. In contrast, no significant change was observed in the control group. These results suggest that attitudes towards mental illness could be changed favorably by this program. [source]