What are users' views of medical residents attending primary care consultations?

Abstract

Objective. To find what users think of the presence of medical residents (MIR) at primary care consultations. Design. Observational and cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting. Urban health centre. Patients. 421 patients, selected by systematic sampling, attending consultations of MIR tutors. Method. A structured questionnaire was drawn up, with some closed questions with multiple-option replies on the Likert scale; and others with a yes/no or "indifferent" reply. The questionnaires were filled out in the waiting-rooms. Results. 100% (63% women, 37% men) answered the questionnaire. 71% preferred to be seen by the same doctor; and 68% thought they were better treated if they were always seen by the same doctor. 89% thought that the presence of the resident was a necessary part of his/her training; 90% were not bothered by his/her presence during the consultation; 82% thought the resident did not obstruct in any way their relationship with the doctor; 94% thought that the presence of the resident had never stopped them mentioning something important; 55% thought that patients had the right to an opinion on the presence of the resident. Conclusions. Most patients valued the presence of residents at consultations positively and thought it a necessary part of their training.