Medical students and comprehensive patient care: attitudes, perceived competence and demonstrated ability

The importance of medical training which emphasizes comprehensive, biopsychosocial medical care is increasingly recognized. Research has focused on characteristics affecting attitudes toward psychosocial information, inferring that such attitudes are acceptable surrogates for demonstrated ability. The current study evaluates the accuracy of information elicited during medical interviews conducted by medical students. Information regarding patient compliance, patient income and patient reliance on social support was correlated with student characteristics, attitudes toward psychosocial information and self-perceived competence in eliciting such data. For 36 third-year medical students on a 4-week family medicine rotation, results showed that measures of psychosocial attitudes were not an acceptable substitute for demonstrated ability. Exposing medical students to the importance of psychosocial data is valuable, but additional attention must be given to their eliciting such information accurately and efficiently.