Opinion of Patients Admitted In Srinagarind Hospital on 6th Year Medical Students’ Communication Skills

Abstract

Background and objective: Communication skill and relationship-forming are among the six standard requirements of the Thai Medical Council referring appropriate characteristics and competence of doctors therefore patients’ point of view on medical students’ communication skill are crucial. This study aimed to study 1) opinions of Srinagarind’s hospital inpatients’ on 6th year medical students’ communication skill

2) expectations of Srinagarind’s hospital inpatients’ on doctors’ communication skill

Methods: This descriptive study used self-administered questionnaire divided into 4 parts 1) General information 2) Questionnaire translated from Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) 3) Patient expectation on doctor’s communication skill survey 4) Suggestion. Data were collected from 179 patients who admitted in Srinagarind hospital and take care by 6th year medical students using simple random sampling. Data analysis were used descriptive statistics which includes proportion, 95% CIs, median, interquartile range was applied using SPSS-PC version 17.

Results: The response rate of the samples was 87.2% which the number of male and female respondents were almost equal. Median age was 51 (IQR=23 years). Education level of most respondents was elementary (39.1%) while occupation was agriculturist (36.5%). Median admission time was 6 days (IQR=8.5 days). The items rated most frequently as excellent were “Let me talk without interruptions” (20.8%; 95%CI:14.7,28), “Paid attention to me (looked at me, listened carefully)” (20%; 95%CI:14,27.2), “Showed care and concern” (18.7%; 95%CI:12.9,25.8). The items rated most frequently as poor and fair were “Encouraged me to ask questions” (21.4%) as well as “Spent the right amount of time with me” (21.4%). The CAT score was 15.48. Expectations rated most frequently as highest were “Explain treatment and follow-up plans, including what to do during treatment” (42.2), “Encourage and relief anxiety” (41.7) and “Completely explain all information that patient want to know” (39.4).

Conclusion: Srinagarind’s hospital’s inpatients’ rated 6th year medical students’ communication skill as excellent on the skills of asking questions and expressing opinions and also had high expectations on the skill of explaining treatment and follow-up plans, including what to do during and after the treatment.