Students’ Attitude towards Patient-Centered Care: A Comparative Study between Traditional and Integrated Curriculum

Abstract

Background: The patient being the focus of all medical sciences therapy, patient-centered care is found to be more beneficial in improving the efficacy of care. It is now being emphasized that this competency of patient-centered care should be developed at the level of undergraduate. It is hoped that with time and experience medical students may develop this competency as a reflex in their clinical practice. Data about the attitude of medical students towards patient-centered care is variable. As well as comparative data as to which curriculum (i.e. traditional versus integrated) enhances this quality is also insufficient. Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the “patient-centered care” attitude of medical students from an integrated versus traditional curriculum. Methods: A cross-sectional, comparative study was conducted at Liaquat national hospital and Medical College from June to December 2017. The sampling technique was non-probability convenience sampling. The calculated sample size was 110 participants in each group. Group A had medical students from the final year current batch and passed out batch (traditional curriculum) while Group B had medical students from current fourth and final year (Integrated curriculum). After consent, a validated questionnaire i.e. patient-physician orientation scale (PPOS) was given to students. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23. Descriptive analysis was done to compute central tendencies and standard deviation and the Students’ t-test, was applied. A P-value of 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 350 students participating in the study, male and female participants were 29.14% and 70.85% respectively. The mean age was 21.99 ±1.73. Traditional curricular medical students had significantly better total PPOS scores as compared with integrated curriculum students (3.45±0.51 versus 3.33±0.47, p=0.01). Females also had significantly better scores than males (3.42 versus 3.31, p=0.040). Conclusion: Results suggest that an integrated medical curriculum should be reviewed and strategies that promote patient-centered care should be incorporated into all phases of student learning

Keywords

• patient-centered care
• traditional curriculum
• integrated curriculum
• medical students
• attitude