Patients’ Attitude and Feeling Toward the Presence of Medical Students in Educational Clinics

Background: Clinical education calls for the interaction between the patient and the medical learner and considering the significance of the patients’ satisfaction and its role in clinical education to learners. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate patients’ attitudes and feelings toward the presence of medical students in educational clinics. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 274 patients visiting the clinics in 2018, who were selected by the convenience sampling method. The data were collected using the questionnaire of Izadi et al in two parts and then analyzed by SPSS 16. Results: The results showed that the total score of patients’ attitudes toward the presence of the students was 66.3, which was above the expected average score (i.e., 3). In addition, the total score of patients’ feelings toward the presence of the students was 67.3, which was above the expected average score (i.e., 3). Moreover, the average score of female patients’ feelings toward the presence of the students was significantly lower than that of male patients (P<0.05). Eventually, individuals with education levels below diploma and above bachelors were the most and least comfortable about the presence of the students (P<0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, patients had a positive feeling and attitude toward the presence of the students in the clinics. These factors need to receive more attention to increase the satisfaction and quality of clinical education.