Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University Chair for Medical Education Research and Development, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ehealth Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
BMC Med Ethics. 2023 Jun 7;24(1):39. doi: 10.1186/s12910-023-00918-9.
Professionalism is a crucial component of medical practice. It is a culturally sensitive notion that generally consists of behaviors, values, communication, and relationships. This study is a qualitative study exploring physician professionalism from the patients' perspective.
Focus group discussions with patients attending a family medicine center attached to a tertiary care hospital were carried out using the four gates model of Arabian medical professionalism that is appropriate to Arab culture. Discussions with patients were recorded and transcribed. Data were thematically analyzed using NVivo software.
Three main themes emerged from the data. (1) In dealing with patients, participants expected respect but understood delays in seeing physicians due to their busy schedules. In communication, participants expected to be informed about their health conditions and to have their questions answered. (2) In dealing with tasks, participants expected proper examination and transparency of diagnosis, but some expected the physician to know everything and did not appreciate them seeking outside opinions. They expected to see the same physician at every visit. (3) In physician characteristics preferences, participants preferred friendly smiling physicians. Some cared about the outer appearance of the physician whereas others did not.
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the study explained only two themes of the four gates model namely dealing with patients and dealing with tasks. Cultural competence and how to benefit from patients' perceptions to be an ideal physician should be incorporated into the process of physicians' training.
专业精神是医疗实践的重要组成部分。它是一个文化敏感的概念，通常包括行为、价值观、沟通和关系。本研究是一项从患者角度探索医生专业精神的定性研究。
对在一家三级医院附属的家庭医学中心就诊的患者进行焦点小组讨论，使用适合阿拉伯文化的阿拉伯医学专业精神的四门模型。对患者的讨论进行录音和转录。使用 NVivo 软件对数据进行主题分析。
数据中出现了三个主要主题。(1) 在与患者打交道时，参与者期望得到尊重，但由于医生工作繁忙，他们理解看医生可能会有延迟。在沟通方面，参与者期望了解自己的健康状况并得到问题的回答。(2) 在处理任务方面，参与者期望得到适当的检查和诊断的透明度，但有些期望医生无所不知，不喜欢他们寻求外部意见。他们希望每次就诊都能看到同一位医生。(3) 在医生特征偏好方面，参与者更喜欢友好微笑的医生。一些人关心医生的外在形象，而另一些人则不关心。
讨论/结论：研究结果仅解释了四门模型的两个主题，即与患者打交道和处理任务。文化能力以及如何利用患者的看法成为理想医生，应该纳入医生培训过程中。
