Patients’ Attitudes Towards Involvement of Medical Students in Their Care at Three Selected University Teaching Hospitals in Uganda: A Cross Sectional Study

Background The acceptance of medical students by patients during care is important and promotes appropriate clinical reasoning, competence and skills development among students. The attitudes and comfort of patients attending care at the medical and obstetrics/gynecology specialties was studied in teaching hospitals of three public universities in Uganda. Methods This was cross sectional study conducted among patients getting care at teaching hospitals for three public universities; of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), Makerere and Gulu Universities. Logistical regression was used to determine the magnitude of associations between independent and dependent variables. Two-sided p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results 855 patients participated in the study. Majority (54%, n=460) were aged 18 — 39 years, female (81%, n=696) and married (67%, n=567). Seventy percent (n=599) of participants could recognize and differentiate medical students from qualified physicians, and had ever had involvement of medical students (65%, n=554) during earlier consultations. Regarding attitudes of patients towards presence of medical students during their consultations, most participants (96%; n=818) considered their involvement in patients’ care as an essential ingredient of training of future doctors/ health professionals. Most participants prefer the training of medical students to take place in the tertiary public hospitals (80%; n=683). Participants who were single/never married were 68% less likely to recognize and differentiate medical students (aOR = 0.32, 95%CI: 0.22 — 0.53) from other members of the healthcare team ,compared to married participants. Participants with university education had 55% lower odds of being comfortable with presence of medical students during consultation compared to those with primary education (aOR= 0.45, 95%CI: 0.21 — 0.94). Participants from MUST teaching hospital had 2-fold higher odds of being comfortable with presence of medical students compared to participants from Mak teaching hospitals (aOR = 2.01; 95%CI: 1.20 — 3.39). Conclusion Patients are generally comfortable with medical students’ involvement in their care; they prefer to seek care in hospitals where medical students contribute to their care. There is a need for disseminating clear messages to the public regarding the presence and roles of medical students in the university teaching hospitals in order to promote and inform patients’ autonomy and informed decisions.