Objective To study the current situation of doctor-patient communication education for medical undergraduates, and meanwhile to analyze the students’ satisfactory degree to communication education and its influencing factors, so as to provide sound suggestions to promote the students’ clinical communication abilities. Methods Using simple sampling, 50% of the students who majored in clinical medicine in grade 2006-2009 in West China Medical School of Sichuan University were selected as respondents. The investigation was conducted by face to face talk with a self-designed questionnaire. The data were input using EpiData 3.0 software and the results were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software. Results A total of 450 questionnaires were distributed, and 404 were validly retrieved (89.78%). Among the respondents, 74.3% of them were satisfied with the current situation of doctor-patient communication education; 75.7% of them begun to know doctor-patient communication education since the stage of learning basic knowledge; 49.8% of them were trained by means of problem-based-learning (PBL); and 65.5% of them were trained with auxiliary standardized patient (SP). “Grade”, “Gender”, “SP used” and “PBL used” were the main factors affecting the satisfactory degree to current doctor-patient communication education (P=0.029, 0.023, 0.012, and 0.029, respectively). Conclusion The medical undergraduates’ satisfactory degree to current doctor-patient communication education is generally high, but it is also affected by various factors. Although doctor-patient communication education has started early, the training system is still problematic and the teaching resources coverage is limited. So in order to make a further systematic, standardized, overall designed education for students’ cognition and communication skills, the medical colleges should open integrated doctor-patient communication curriculum that combines with both PBL and SP auxiliary teaching methods, and covers all the undergraduate learning stage.
Objective To investigate and assess the current status of communication between medical students and old patients so as to improve the communication skills of medical students. Methods A total of 90 medical students were surveyed by a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 13.0 software. Results Medical students have recognized the importance of communication with patients, but they rarely had active communication behaviors. In addition, their knowledge of communication skills was utterly inadequate. Conclusion It is necessary to strengthen the training of communication skills among medical students.
Objective To investigate patients in gynecological endocrinology clinic with the following three pieces of information: how did they provide their symptom information, how did they understand diagnostic and therapeutic information, and what was their attitude towards the visit, and to get to know about the situation and problems in doctor-patient communication, so as to aim directly at improving the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment. Methods A total of 403 patients, who visited Prof. HAN Zi-yan’s clinic in the hospital from April to August 2010, were evaluated using self-edited Assessment on Doctor-patient Communication in Gynecological Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic. Results a) As to the situation of patients providing symptom information as well as understanding diagnostic and therapeutic information, when doctor asked, only 29% (118/403) of patients could narrate their treatment history clearly, and 38% (152/403) could tell their examination history exactly. After doctors’ explanation, only 21% (86/403) understood their examination results correctly, and 27% (108/403) understood management and therapeutic advice. The result of correlation analysis showed the accuracy of patients in providing disease information and accepting diagnostic and therapeutic information was higher in patients aged from 21 to 40 rather than those younger than 20, in patients well- educated rather than those with little education at the primary school, and in patients who were also engaged in medical work, All differences were significant (all Plt;0.05); and b) As to patients’ attitude towards visit, 55% (222/403) of patients hoped to get more attention from doctor, and 37.5% (151/403) overly expected the visit. Conclusion In the professor’s gynecological endocrinology outpatient clinic, many patients can’t clearly provide their treatment and examination history, neither understand exam situation and therapeutic advice at that visit, which are influenced by their age, education and occupation. In addition, psychological needs of patients should be concerned, too