Patient attitudes towards medical students at Damascus University teaching hospitals.

Background: The cooperation of patients and their consent to involve medical students in their care is vital to clinical education, but large numbers of students and lack of experience as well as loss of privacy may evoke negative attitudes of patients, which may sometimes adversely affect the clinical teaching environment. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of patients towards medical students at Damascus University hospitals, and to explore the determinants of those attitudes thus discussing possible implications applicable to clinical teaching.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at three teaching hospitals affiliated to the Faculty of Medicine at Damascus University.