Patient becomes the teacher (original) (raw)

Do we need to change the medical curriculum: regarding the pain of others

Indian Heart Journal, 2015

The current curriculum is behind its time and urgently requires to be reformed. The changes required are not only in the amount and type of desired information but also in the way this knowledge is acquired. Further, literature, art and philosophy require to be integrated in the curriculum so that a medical student can find his/her bearings in the society. Finally, but most importantly focus must be on developing empathy so that a prospective physician can correlate with the pain of patients and act towards relieving it rather than intellectualizing it.

Is your mind set? – how are intra- and interpersonal competences dealt with in medical education? A multi-professional qualitative study

BMC Medical Education, 2019

Background: Professional intrapersonal and interpersonal competences (IICs) form an important part of medical expertise but are given little attention during clinical training. In other professional fields such as psychotherapy, education and aviation, training in IICs is an integral part of education and practice. In medicine, IICs tend to actually decline during studies. To date it is unclear why IICs are given less attention in medicine, despite evidence for their importance in the treatment process. In view of this, the study examined the role of IICs in the treatment process, the current situation of IIC training in medicine and, most importantly, the reasons for the comparatively low focus on IICs in the clinical training of medical students. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 21 experts from a variety of medical specialties and non-medical professions that provide a training with a stronger focus on IIC development. The interviews were evaluated using grounded theory. Results: The experts confirmed the idea that IICs are an equally important component in the treatment process, along with medical knowledge and technical skills. They also described large differences between the IICs possessed by physicians but noted a general developmental need. The key shortcoming was perceived to be a deep-seated defensiveness towards learning from mistakes and deficits e.g. through reflection and feedback. The interaction of different factors that seem to be reasons for this defensiveness and perpetuate it were identified: lack of support in dealing with insecurities in the face of responsibility; the notion of medicine as a science with the categories of right and wrong answers; and a range of pressures arising from the setting, such as hierarchical, economic and competition pressures.

The role of intra- and interpersonal relations in the process of diagnosis and treatment

Journal of Medical Science, 2019

There is an increasing tendency to adopt biopsychosocial approach to teaching how to care for patients. Participation in Balint’s groups is used to train students in communication and building relations with patients. Aim: To identify positive and negative aspects of participation in Balint’s groups, which are a part of compulsory training for students.Methods: 70 medical students, who took part in the study, filled in a questionnaire specifically developed for students participating in Balint’s group. The questionnaire consisted of three open questions. The answers were collected and then analyzed by way of qualitative analysis of text and factorial analysis Results: The results suggest that Balint’s method can be difficult for medical students because they have not practiced building therapeutic relations with patients. Nevertheless, most students benefit from training in terms of personal development, awareness of mechanisms influencing patients – doctor communication and satisf...

The beliefs of third-level healthcare students towards low-back pain

Objectives. Beliefs held by healthcare providers are part of the complex recovery of a patient with low-back pain (LBP). The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of Irish university healthcare students towards LBP. Methods. Physiotherapy ( = 107), medicine ( = 63), nursing, and midwifery ( = 101) students completed the survey. Demographic data, LBP related beliefs [Back Beliefs Questionnaire (BBQ) and the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire physical subsection (FABQ-PA)] were collected. Results. Two hundred and seventy-one students responded (response rate 29%). Student physiotherapists had significantly lower FABQ ( < 0.001) scores than medical (95% CI [−5.492, −1.406]) and nursing students (95% CI [−7.718, −22.307]). Physiotherapy students had significantly higher BBQ scores ( < 0.0001) than medical (95% CI [1.490, 5.406]) and nursing students (95% CI [6.098, 11.283]). Beliefs of physiotherapy and medical students were significantly better among fourthyear year than first-year students ( < 0.0001) but were not significantly different for nursing students ( = 0.820 for FABQ and = 0.810 for BBQ). Conclusions. Physiotherapy students had more positive beliefs towards LBP than medical and nursing students. Physiotherapy and medical students' beliefs towards LBP significantly improved over the course of their studies.

The Attitudes and Beliefs of Physiotherapy Students to Chronic Back Pain

The Clinical Journal of Pain, 2004

Objectives: To describe the attitudes and beliefs of physiotherapy students to chronic low back pain (LBP) and to investigate whether these attitudes change following exposure to a teaching module on chronic back pain. Also, to investigate the effect of current or previous LBP on student attitudes and beliefs.

Student-patient communication during physiotherapy treatment

Australian Journal of Physiotherapy, 1998

Some communication skills adopted by 30 Australian and 27 Hong Kong final year physiotherapy students were observed by their clinical supervisor, while delivering treatment to an acute post-surgical patient in their country of origin. In each case, patient and student were racially similar and verbal communication was in their first language. The results showed that Australian students used more explanation, eye contact. verbal reinforcement. facial expression, variation of tone and response with interest, compared with Hong Kong students. Female students from both cultures used more verbal skills, such as information finding and response with interest, compared with male students; Australianfemale students responded with interest more frequently with female patients. When treating male patients, Hong Kong male students applied more non-therapeutic touch but less response with interest, compared with Australian male students. This study suggests that. regardless of the cultural setting, more physiotherapy studentteaching resources should be channelled towards development of communication skills during undergraduate training, with particular emphasis given to verbal communication skills for male students.