PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to report the patient's opinion of the presence of medical students in ambulatory care, and to find out which factors were related with the outpatient's feelings and opinion. METHODS: The study subjects were 187 outpatients attended at three medical college hospitals in Busan. The subjects completed self-reported questionnaires about the patients' opinion of the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. These data were analyzed chi-square test. RESULTS: Among 187 people, 100 (53.4%) respondents answered with 'agree', 65 (34.8%) were 'no idea', and 22 (11.8%) were 'disagree' about the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. The patient's age, sex, educational level, and monthly income were not related significantly with the patient's opinion of the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. The factors related to subject's opinion were previous experience of medical students' inspection (p< 0.05), comfortableness of talking to doctor with medical students (p< 0.001), and previous recognizing the medical educational function of the medical college hospital (p< 0.005).
CONCLUSION
Most outpatients have positive opinion for the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. But, because some outpatients have negative opinion toward the presence of medical students in ambulatory care, we need systemic consideration about them.
