Skip to main content
. 1999 Aug;14(8):481–487. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.1999.09298.x

Table 1.

Longitudinal Comparison of the Importance Students Placed on Identifying Themselves as Students or onAsking Permission Before Interacting with Patients

Importance Ratings*
Setting Clinical Scenario Preclinical Students from 1995(n = 153) Fourth-year Medical Students from 1997(n = 74) p Value
Alert patients Take blood pressure 3.3 2.8 .018
Examine abdomen 4.2 3.7 .017
Examine prostate 4.3 3.5 .019
Examine pelvis 4.8 4.6 .142
Take medical history 4.0 3.9 .794
Perform spinal tap 4.7 4.5 .133
Take sexual history 5.0 4.9 .312
Anesthetized patients Observe surgery 2.3 2.0 .052
Make incision 3.8 3.2 .003
Hold retractor 3.0 2.3 <.0005
Perform rectal exam 4.0 3.0 <.0005
Perform pelvic exam 4.1 3.4 <.0005
Suture incision 3.8 3.2 <.0005
Intubate patient 4.0 3.4 .002
*

1 = very unimportant, 5 = very important.

By independent samples t test.