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.