The ability of first-year medical students to correctly identify and directly respond to patients' observed behaviors

Purpose. To determine whether first-year medical students could correctly identify and directly respond to patients' observed behaviors. Method. In January 1995, 166 first year students at the University of Illinois College of Medicine were shown a videotape of six patient vignettes illustrating three types of patient behaviors (anger, seduction, and hypochondriasis) by pairs of men and women. After each vignette the tape was stopped, and in an open-ended format the students were asked to identify each patient's behavior and to write their verbal response to that patient. The students were prompted with the question, ''What would you say now!'' They were then asked to select their comfort level with each patient on a scale ranging from 1 (very comfortable) to 5 (very uncomfortable). The students' responses were analyzed with several statistical tools. Results. The students correctly identified anger in both the man and the woman over 90% of the time. Forty percent of the students identified seductive behavior from the woman, but only 5% identified it from the man. Hypochondriacal behavior was identified 65% of the time in the woman and 49% of the time in the man. Identification of behavior did not correlate with the formation of a direct response. The students' gender did not predict the ability to correctly identify or directly respond to patients. However, student responses as a whole differed significantly based on the patient's gender. Conclusion. These findings underscore the complexity of physician-patient communications and the need to address the subtleties of these interactions as part of the medical school curriculum.