Interns' attitudes towards aspects of their medical education

During December 1977, the last month of the internship year, students who had obtained the M.B. B.Ch. degree at the University of the Witwatersrand at the end of 1976 completed questionnaires to reveal their attitudes towards aspects of their undergraduate education. Sixty-seven per cent of the class responded. The interns thought that their undergraduate education had prepared them ore adequately for manual tasks than for dealing with emotional aspects of patient care, especially a dying patient. More anxiety was aroused when managing a dying patient and his relatives than when performing diagnostic procedures. The health care function of allied professionals was not fully appreciated, and as a result their services were not fully used.