Clekship Student Perceive Professional and Unprofessional Behaviors of Student and Physicians

Abstract

This study aimed to explore a Korean medical student’s perception of professional and unprofessional behaviors by peers and physicians. A total of 144(56.92%) out of 253 graduating students from three medical schools in Korea completed an online survey. The survey used the Climate of Professionalism in a Clinical Teaching Environment scale, which queries the subjects’ observations of professional and unprofessional behaviours. An analysis was derived from reliability, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and a paired t-test. The reliability was identified in the peers (Cronbach’s alpha=.83) and the physicians (Cronbach’s alpha= .88). By the respondents’ reports, both the peers and the physicians were less professional in their error handling. The difference in observed behaviours between the two groups existed in “disrespect to others” (p .000), “the expense of others” (p .05), and “ignorance of the other’s unprofessional behaviour” (p .000). In their clinical practice, the students are watching professional or unprofessional behaviours of peer students and physicians. Instructional intervention is needed to ensure that the unprofessional behaviours observed by the students are not transformed into a learning experience.