In-Patients Assessment Towards Medical Students Of University Of Cyberjaya On Professionalism And Communication Skills In Hospital Kajang, Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Medical practitioners are expected to demonstrate professional behavior and good communication skills. This study aims to assess the in-patient's response towards University of Cyberjaya (UoC)’s medical students’ professionalism and communication skills and to examine its association with patients' socio-demographic factors. This is an essential tool to reflect the university's medical education to produce excellent doctors by exploring the patient’s opinions.

Methods: This is a hospital based cross-sectional study involving only 26 patients due to the unavoidable circumstances of Movement Control Order (MCO) and time constraint. Patients were selected after they had met and did an interview session with UoC’s medical students. A modified and validated self- answered questionnaire version of the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Patient Assessment survey was used for data collection. Data entry and analysis were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). All datas were assessed for frequency, means and association using Fisher Exact test. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Females constituted 65.4%, whereas 34.5% were males. Patient’s mean score on the medical students ranges from 4.04 to 4.73, with highest mean value on items assessing student’s ability to establish adequate communication with patients and good socio-cultural ethics, while the lowest mean value was on items assessing confidentiality and reliability. Patients age, gender and other sociodemographic status did not show any statistically significant influence on the rating level.

Conclusion: Generally, patients have positive feedback on University of Cyberjaya (UoC) ’s medical students’ professionalism and communication skills. However, there were still areas identified that can be improved on.