To think doctors should ask before bringing students to talk to a patient

[thedaywewillremeber]

Ds saw a liaison psychiatrist in a&e this week. He brought along a medical student. Ds finds it hard to talk about his problems anyway never mind with an extra person. Aibu to think they should ask?

Worst experience I had with this was when I was in labour with dd and having some problems. Consultant turned up with 3 students.. did an internal then announced "Her anus is full and her cervix is backwards.. who'd like to check that?" I suddenly realised he was casually asking which of the students would like to do an internal.. without a word of reference to me. I crossed my legs and refused permission.. if he'd asked nicely I'd most likely have agreed!

@Elsiebear90

We don’t always ask tbh unless it’s intimate procedures or delicate discussions, but we’re a large teaching hospital and have signs everywhere saying often students will be present and you can request to them not to be if you’re not comfortable.

Well that’s shit and you should ask.

I always say yes, but if I wasn’t asked I would be complaining.

I find that students are already sitting in when you arrived, you’re not asked first. Rather you have to awkwardly ask them to leave if you feel uncomfortable

I think the problem sometimes comes from the the fact that some doctors while supervising and teaching students - certainly not all doctors - seem to think they are also telling the patient what to do.

In fact the doctor is advising the patient what, in their medical opinion, the best course of action would be. The patient tells the doctor what they want to do. It's important in some consultations that the patient is not distracted from asking the right questions by the presence of students.

I had a medical professional come and see me about a very personal matter, and was not impressed that she had brought a student with her, without asking. She may as well have not bothered coming, because it became a pointless exercise, with me not being prepared to open up with the young student peering interestedly on. . .

they should ask if you mind a student being present.
When I had my ds it was a student midwife that brought him into the world she was amazing and will make a great midwife. She was supervised by a senior midwife. I was asked if it was ok for her to lead the birth and I was fine with it.

@Elsiebear90

We don’t always ask tbh unless it’s intimate procedures or delicate discussions, but we’re a large teaching hospital and have signs everywhere saying often students will be present and you can request to them not to be if you’re not comfortable.

That's the wrong way around.

You should be asking permission for the students to be there before they are in the room, not once they are in there.

Most patients in a hospital feel vulnerable, and may not feel able to ask the students to leave if they are already in the room. You have probably had plenty of people sitting/lying/etc in silence feeling uncomfortable with the extra people in the room and not feeling able to say anything.

I know I used to be like that. It was horrible when I was young and had to endure students, because I was so shy and couldn't ask for them to leave.

I had such an embarrassing appointment once. I was 19 with low vitamin d and the named GP asked me to come in for a loading dose injection.

At the same time, I had a gynae issue to discuss and asked the receptionist if I needed to book a separate appointment. She told me no, just discuss both at the same appointment.

When I arrived there were TWO extra juniors sitting in. Apparently my deficiency was interesting? I had to explain my gynaecology issue in front of an audience of 3 and it was so embarrassing and undignified. The GP kept adding commentary to what I was saying to teach the juniors and it all felt very impersonal. He was misdiagnosing me eg he thought I had vaginismus but it was a physical issue then went on a tangent. He actually wanted to carry out an intimate exam of me in front of them too - it was awful. I didn’t have the confidence to tell them to leave but I did speak up for the exam.