The patient–physician relationship in surgical students

Background: Students may become less adept at developing strong patientphysician relationships during medical school. We evaluated whether students choosing careers in surgery show a similar negative trend. Methods: Scores from 2 validated measurements of medical personality were compared using repeated-measures analysis of variance. The Patient Provider Orientation Scale (PPOS) assesses whether students are more patient-centered or paternalistic, and the Physician Reaction to Uncertainty Scale (PRUS) measures willingness to disclose uncertainty. Results: From 1998 to 2005, 236 students completed the PPOS and PRUS in the first and third year of medical school. Surgical students remained patient-centered in their first and third year of medical school (mean PPOS, 4.5 vs 4.54, respectively; P < .348). In addition, they became more willing to disclose uncertainty (mean PRUS improved from 25.5 to 23.8; P < .002). Conclusions: Students choosing careers in surgery maintain or improve upon personality traits that are important for developing strong patientphysician relationships. All rights reserved.