PATIENTS ATTITUDE TOWARDS MEDICAL STUDENTS INVOLVEMENT IN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Objective: To study attitude of patients towards medical students participation in health care system at Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro. Methodology: The cross-sectional observational study was conducted from Dec 2016 to Feb 2017. A data sample of 200 people i.e. 100 patients, admitted at Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro was chosen by simple random sampling. A self-administered structured, interview based questionnaire was used. Informed consent was taken from the patients. Apart from basic inquiries regarding sociodemographic details, patients were asked the number of times they encountered medical students during their sat at the hospital, complaints regarding medical students and trainees, associated allegations and their satisfaction level with the treatment they received. The data obtained was analyzed on SPSS v.19.0. Results: Among non-receptive patients, 57% were females while 43% were males.43% of the patients belonged to the age group of 41 years or above while 21.40% were up to 21 years of age. On visit by medical trainees, 86.2% of patients were satisfied on a single visit while 14.30% of patients were remained unsatisfied, while satisfaction level decreases to 78.60% on second visit. Among middle socioeconomic class, 100% were satisfied while in lower middle class 82.30 % were satisfied and 14.60 % remained unsatisfied. Among the patients belonging to rural areas 82.80 % were satisfied while 15.50 % were not satisfied. Among the patients belonging to urban areas 83.0 % were satisfied and 11.50 % were not satisfied. Conclusion: On the basis of results obtained findings the study concludes that female gender, increasing age and greater number of visits by medical students and trainees influence non receptiveness among patients that lead to improper medical history and thus treatment outcomes. Proper counselling of patients and assistance by senior doctors could decrease the impact of the problem significantly Keywords: Patient's Non-receptiveness, Health Care System, Medical Students.