Wie erleben Patienten den studentischen Unterricht in der Allgemeinarztpraxis? How Do Patients Experience Student Teaching in General Practice?

Background: Student teaching in primary care medicine in Germany means education in surge- ries. However this form of student teaching can not be done without having an impact on the re- lationship between patients and family doctors. Methods: During a six-week period we perfor- med a study on 263 patients from four middle- sized teaching practices in Berlin by a self-de- signed anonymous questionnaire to determine their experiences with student teaching in a pri- mary care setting. Results: The results show that most of the pati- ents (81 % ) do accept that a student is present du- ring their consultation but 9 % declared that they conceal information then. This rate is even higher among those who felt to be not informed about the student being present (28 % ). In addition to that 10 % of the patients would prefer a practi- ce without student teaching. They experience a disturbed relationship to their doctor caused by students to a signifi cantly higher rate than those who are indifferent about the teaching function of their doctor. Conclusion: We show that student teaching in primary care practices is well accepted by pati- ents. But it can disturb the relationship between patients and doctors especially if it lacks an infor- med consent. In future it should be guaranteed that patients will have a real choice to participate in student teaching or not by an early and open information strategy.