“Appropriate”; name usage: Didactic and clinical incongruity

Abstract

Respectful and sensitive name usage during the initial phase of the physician‐patient encounter can set the tone for a humanistic doctor‐patient interaction. In this study, medical students’ application of previous didactic instruction regarding “appropriate”; use of names was evaluated in the clinical setting. The typical manner in which physican‐teachers role modeled this behavior was also examined. There were 196 patients, 21 physican‐teachers, and 16 medical students who completed study questionnaires. The results revealed that medical students did not employ essential concepts of previous instruction regarding name usage in their interactions with patients. Furthermore, patients’ assessments of the manner in which the majority of physican‐teachers addressed patients was inconsistent with precepts presented in the classroom. To avoid incongruity between didactic and clinical teaching, clinical faculty must be apprised of the rationale for specific didactic curricular components and encouraged to role model relevant concepts during clinical teaching.