Current attitudes of medical students and house staff toward terminal illness

A survey questionnaire about attitudes toward terminal illness was administered to all medical students, interns, and all medical, surgical, and psychiatric residents at the Downstate Medical Center. The majority of students and new physicians surveyed reported that patients with terminal illness should be told their diagnosis--a reversal of attitudes as compared with those revealed by studies done before 1970. Most of the respondents also expressed the view that they would want to be told of their own fatal illness. The attitudes at different levels in medical school, internship, and residency did not differ significantly despite the differences in formal education and clinical experience of the respondents. Implications of these findings are discussed with particular emphasis on the need to teach an individualized approach to the dying patient.