Assessment Of Patient Attitude To The Involvement Of Students In Radiographic Examinations In Hospitals In Enugu Metropolis

Patients’ consent to being part of the education of Medical Radiography is often taken for granted hence formal consent is not always sought during teaching and patients are sometimes not aware that they are going to be used for teaching activities. Some students of Radiography are not even aware of patients’ right to privacy when they come for radiographic examinations. This study aims to assess the reaction or attitude of patients to the involvement of students in

radiographic examinations. A survey was conducted using a manual questionnaire tailored to suit the purpose of this study; data collected from patients from the three university teaching hospitals in Enugu namely UNTH, NOHE and ESUTH (N=99) was statistically analyzed. The results show that 22.2% of the patients have been examined by student radiographers without the supervision of a radiographer. Also 47.5 percent of the respondents are would be afraid to be examined by student radiographers without supervision, while 34.3% would be embarrassed if they are examined by students of the opposite gender. This indicates that students should be well supervised during radiographic examination of patients and that care should be taken to ensure patient privacy to avoid embarrassment.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page          

Dedication           

Approval          

Abstract          

Acknowledgement           

Table of Contents          

List of Tables         

List of Figures           

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of study        

1.1 Statement of problem        

1.2 Purpose of study        

1.3 Significance of study       

1.4 Scope of study         

1.5 literature review          

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 The patient          

2.2 Attitude          

2.3 Measuring attitudes         

2.4 Assessment of patient attitudes to the involvement of students in radiographic examinations

2.5 Effects of student involvement on radiographic examinations    

2.6 Importance of patient and student education     

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.0 Research design        

3.1 Target population          

3.2 Sample size          

3.3 Sampling procedure         

3.4 Instrument and method of data collection     

3.5 Data analysis and presentation 

Result 

CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.0 Discussion          

4.1 Conclusion          

4.2 Recommendation         

4.3 Limitations of study         

REFERENCES

QUESTIONNAIRE

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Age of respondents        

Table 2: Sex of respondents        

Table 3: Marital status of respondents       

Table 4: Level of education of respondents      

Table 5: Attitude of patients to student involvement in radiographic examinations     

Table 6: Chi-square test on whether respondents’ feeling of embarrassment is sex dependent     

Table 7: Chi-square test on whether fear of student involvement is dependent on hospital    

Table 8: Chi-Square test on whether respondents’ feeling of embarrassment is age dependent for each sex 

Table 9: Respondents’ reasons for being afraid of student involvement in radiographic examinations 

Table 10: Respondents’ reasons for not being afraid of student involvement in radiographic examinations 

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: A compound histogram showing frequency and percentage distribution of the ability of respondents to differentiate between a student radiographer and radiographer.     

Figure 2: A compound histogram showing frequency and percentage distribution of respondents’ previous experience with unsupervised Students in the radiology department        

INTRODUCTION

A patient is any recipient of health care services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment 1. Being a patient does not take away one’s right to privacy and comfort at the hospital during treatment. In fact, due to the physical, emotional, and mental state of patients, it is very important that their privacy is respected, and their comfort guaranteed.

Therefore, every examination or treatment in the hospital should be in the patient’s best interest, because the patient is the main reason for the existence of the hospital. Training of new health care professionals such as doctors, radiographers, nurses, etc, is part of the process of improving health care delivery, which in turn is beneficial to the patient.

Therefore, in order to train health care providers and also improve on the standard of health care delivery, real life situations are required. This is where the patient becomes very important in the education and training of health care professionals.

However, the patient’s rights to privacy should be respected and it is ethical for patient’s consent to be sought before they are used for teaching or demonstration for students. On the contrary, patients are sometimes not aware of any teaching activities 

Students are now becoming actively involved in patient care in order to gain clinical experience. This seems to be a symbiotic relationship because as students gain more clinical experience, patient care is enhanced due to combined efforts from both the health care professional and the students.

Students of Radiography require high level scientific training for proper understanding and efficient application of the modern technology involved in the discharge of health care.

Therefore, clinical postings for students of radiography require that they visit teaching hospitals regularly, and are present in the examination room in order to gain practical knowledge of how radiographic procedures are carried out.

Student presence, and furthermore, participation in carrying out radiographic procedures are very important to their training as professional radiographers. However, while this is of great benefit to the students it may not go down well with some patients who have reservations about students being around while they are being examined.

While some patients may not have a problem with having students participate in general radiographic investigations, they may not want students participating in special or intimate examinations such as hysterosalpingography (HSG), micturating cyctourethrography (MCU), gynaecography, mammography, etc

It is worthy of note that the hospital exists solely because of the patient, and as such, every aspect of healthcare delivery should be geared towards patient. 

The patient is therefore not divested of his rights to privacy and comfort because he is ill. It is important to note that the patient pays the bills for his treatment and this requires that his preferences are acknowledged whenever possible.

When patients are not comfortable in the examination room then it may be difficult for radiographic examinations to produce desired results.

A good number of studies have examined how patients feel about the involvement of medical students in clinical examinations; however, very few studies have examined how patients feel towards student involvement in radiographic examinations.