Barriers of physician-patient relationships in professionalism: A qualitative study.

Introduction: Undoubtedly, there are several obstacles in the path of medical professionalism. This study examines these obstacles in the relationship between physician and patient. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the barriers of physician-patient relationships in professionalism based on physician experiences. Methods: It was a qualitative study with a conventional content analysis approach. Our participants were 14 patients and 11 physicians. The sampling method was purposive, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews and field notes. Interviews continued until data saturation. Results: Findings of the study regarding barriers of patient-physician relationship were classified into five main categories: misperception of the physician's identity, unprofessional behavior of the physician, physician's sense of self-superiority, patients' cultural differences, and lack of supportive services in the health care system. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the communication challenges between physician and patient were not limited to the physicians' education. Part of these challenges depends on the patients and their culture. Another part of these challenges is directly related to the medical and management system structure.

The predictive role of personality traits on academic performance of medical students: The mediating role of self-efficacy.

Background: Determining the variables influencing students' academic performance is one of the main preoccupations in medical colleges. Therefore, this study examined the effect of the Big Five personality traits on medical students' academic performance, considering the mediating role of self-efficacy. Methods: We applied a cross sectional research design using a PLS-SEM approach. A total of 249 medical students participated in this study. Two valid and reliable questionnaires, including Big Five Inventory (BFI-10) and New General Self Efficacy (GSE) were used. Data were analyzed using both SPSS 18 and PLS2 software. Results: The validity and reliability of the questionnaires were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The results revealed that openness (ß= 0.16, p<0.001), conscientiousness (ß=0.22, p<0.001), agreeableness (ß=0.19, p<0.001), and self-efficacy (ß=0.24, p<0.001) had a significant positive and direct effect on academic performance. Neuroticism (ß=-0.21, p<0.001) had a significant negative and direct effect on academic performance. Also, openness (ß=0.47, p<0.001) and conscientiousness (ß=0.33, p<0.001) had a direct positive effect on self-efficacy. Neuroticism (ß=-0.15, p<0.001) had a direct negative effect on self-efficacy. Moreover, the results showed an indirect positive effect of conscientiousness (ß=0.08, p<0.001) and openness (ß=0.11, p<0.001) on academic performance through self-efficacy. In addition, the results showed that neuroticism (ß=-0.03, p<0.001) had an indirect negative effect on academic performance through self-efficacy. Conclusion: This study discovered the relationships between personality traits, self-efficacy, and academic performance of medical students. The results showed that individual differences in personality traits directly and indirectly play an essential role, through self-efficacy, in contributing to the students' academic performance.