An Assessment Of Patients’ Co-operation Towards Presence Of Students During Radiological Examinations.

A key element of education for radiography students is patients’ willingness to co-operate when a student is involved in their radiological procedures. Active participation of the student in patient care has been shown to be important for professional development of learners. The objective of this study is to determine the views of patients and associated factors influencing these views when students are incorporated into their radiological examinations. This study was conducted in 2 hospitals located in Enugu and Owerri. 100 patients were initially mapped out to be used for the study, but only 90 patients finally agreed to participate. A questionnaire structured in line with the objectives of this research was used to collect the data. There were 90 respondents, of whom, 35% were male and 64.4% were females. 35.6% were single, 58.9% were married and 5.6% were of the divorced group. 52% of the patients could differentiate a student radiographer from a radiographer while 48% will not be able to differentiate this. 52% will not be happy if a student will examine them without the supervision of a radiographer while 68.5% will not allow students examine them when a radiographer is not around. 86.7% would not request that a student should be sent out during an examination. Generally, 89.9% think it is important and students should participate in radiological examinations. There is generally a favourable acceptance of radiography students’ involvement.

Title page i

Approval ii

Certification iii

Dedication iv

Abstract vi

Table of Contents vii

List of Tables viii

List of Figures ix

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of problem 3

1.3 Significance of study 5

1.4 Scope of study 5

1.5 Hypothesis 5

1.6 Literature review

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 A patient 14 

2.1.1. Classes of patients 15

2.2 Definition of Co-operation 16

2.3 Communication as a tool that determines the level of co-operation 17

2.4 History of patient teaching and learning 20

2.5 Barriers to communication 21

2.6 Goals of patient education which effective communication builds

2.7 Structure of attitudes

2.7.1 The function of attitudes

2.8 Teaching with patients

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.0 Research design 23

3.1 Target population 23

3.3 Method/instrument for data collection 24

3.4 Description of the questionnaire 24

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

4.0 Results 37

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

5.0 Discussion

5.1 Summary of findings

5.2 Recommendations

5.3 Limitations of study

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

 In the healthcare sector, people who administer health care, clinical students inclusive, always maintain a close contact or work directly with those who receive the healthcare the people who receive the healthcare service are called patients, but for the purpose of emotional and psychological balance, ‘client’ or ‘healthcare consumer’ is the name chosen for them.1

Clinical placements are an important component in the education of students who are training in the healthcare professions. Here, they begin to witness examinations of patients thereby gaining required experience as it concerns the hospital environment.

Being a patient also leaves one with a responsibility of responding to your caregivers.3 In order to facilitate care, a patient to help the medical personnel by following their instructions and medical orders. Clinical students might be involved in a care and the patient has the obligation of following instructions.

Although most patients accept that healthcare givers in training must develop their clinical skills, the presence of a student might add to the arousal that the medical environment already imposes on a patient.4 This can evoke negative/unacceptable behaviours from patients especially when the patient nurses the feeling that he/she has lost his/her privacy. The aggression of the patient might manifest in the form of defiance; refusal to co-operate with instructions given to them. This usually interferes with the examination and in general, adversely affects the clinical teaching environment. As it concerns student radiographers, it can be stated that continued exposure to uncooperative patients tend to manifest in the student as emotional exhaustion and lower level of psychological well-being.5

A patient’s willingness and comfort level with involving a student in the radiological examination may be affected by a number of factors. These range from their previous experience with radiography students, through understanding the role/responsibilities of the students, nature of the medical problem and the patient or student’s sex, most importantly.2, 6, 7, 8

As it concerns sex as the most important factor, anecdotal evidence from male students have shown how difficult it is to obtain experience whenever it concerns female patients. In radiography, invasive examinations such as Hysterosalpingography(HSG) are often and inadvertently restricted to mainly female students. Female patients tend to be more apprehensive when they have male students around than female students in radiological examinations like HSG.

Nevertheless, previous studies carried out especially on medical students revealed a general acceptance of them as patients had a positive view of them, but specific details on assessing the level patients co-operate when students participate in intimate radiological examinations like Hysterosalpingography(HSG), Micturating Cystourethrography(MCUG), mammography has not been documented. Again, these studies have been carried out on Caucasians with the awareness that the values of this country are different from theirs; it becomes necessary to assess this major factor in clinical excellence within our locality.