Patients' views on the training of medical students in Australian general practice settings.
OBJECTIVE
To explore patients' views on training medical students in their general practice. METHOD AND SETTING: Consenting patients attending eight urban teaching practices completing a self administered survey before and after the consultation.


RESULTS
One hundred and four patients attended for appointments: 94 consented to the involvement of a medical student, 88 completed surveys before and after their consultation (response rate 85%), 80% said the main reason for consenting was to benefit the student, and 70% said they would never refuse the presence of a medical student. Student involvement was less than that consented to: only 18 (20%) patients reported that the student independently conducted any of the consultation; 52 (59%) would accept this level of involvement in the future.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients are a willing, but potentially under used resource for training medical students in general practice. Improved collaboration with patients would provide better teaching opportunities for students at all levels.
Salisbury
Karen
K
Department of General Practice, Flinders University, South Australia. Karen.Salisbury@flinders.edu.au
Farmer
Elizabeth A
EA
Vnuk
Anna
A
D001315:Australia; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011159:Population Surveillance