In the shadow of perceived threat: The live experience of Iranian patients candidate for undergoing coronary angiography.

Coronary angiography (CAG) is a stressful event for many patients. This article aimed to explore the Iranian patients' experiences of undergoing CAG. In this qualitative study that is a substudy of a larger study, 15 patients (seven men and eight women) with a mean age of 49.8 ± 11.6 years were recruited from three hospitals in Shiraz, southwest Iran. Data were collected using semistructured, face-to-face interview before undergoing CAG. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Perceived threat of patients included two themes: being under pressure and anxiety. Patients undergoing CAG experience psychological problems that can threaten them in catheterization laboratory. Health professionals are required to help and prepare this patient for an invasive CAG. To minimize the psychological problems of patients undergoing CAG, nurses and physicians should perform some supportive interventions in their care plan.

A critical ethnography of doctor-patient interaction in southern Iran.

Doctor-patient interaction is a subject with ethical ramifications, besides being an important issue in medical sociology. The main goal of this critical study is to explore the interactional experience of hospital admitted patients. For this reason, the study, carried out in an educational hospital in southern Iran, entailed 156 recorded clinical consultations, 920 hours of participant observation, and six focus groups consisting of patients and their families. The research method used is Critical Ethnography, which was introduced by PF Carspecken. The results showed that negative interactional experience was common among the participants. Six related themes were: doctors' inattentiveness; weak interaction; violation of patients' privacy; unjustified pain; long waiting period and ambiguity; and faceless physicians. According to the participants' observations, poor interaction with doctors has led to these negative experiences. The findings showed that doctors were inconsiderate about patients' concerns and due to this, patients were dissatisfied. Theoretically, this form of fragmented collaboration has deep roots in the framework of modern medicine, but in the context of this study, the intensity of the fragmentation between doctors and patients was observed to be intolerable. To solve this problem, models of patient-centredness and narrative medicine are recommended. In addition, the health system should monitor and evaluate the observance of ethics by physicians.

From good to great physician: a critical ethnography based on patients' views.

The doctor-patient interaction (DPI) plays an important role in the way patients view physicians. Thus, response to the question of ''Who is a great physician?'' is related to DPI experiences of patients. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore patients' views regarding this subject. Based on critical ethnography in one educational hospital in Shiraz, Iran, the study was performed based on 156 clinical consultations, 920 hours of participant observations, and 6 focus groups with patients and their relatives. The results revealed that asymmetrical power relationships exist in this context. Based on the general views of participants and their recent DPI experiences, a great physician should be kind, empathetic, friendly, and a good listener. Considering the presence of an asymmetrical power relationships in this context, results showed that doctors do not participate in an active interaction. Based on sociological theories, it can be concluded that the concept of a great physician is not only limited to obligations as in the Parsonian view, but is also related to active communication between both sides which is presented in the critical view. Through active communication , asymmetrical power relationships can be reduced. Thus, if a physician wants to become a great physician, he/she must strengthen his/her humanistic dimensions and communicative skills alongside his/her medical skills.

How Iranian Medical Trainees Approach their Responsibilities in Clinical Settings; A Grounded Theory Research.

BACKGROUND: It seems we are now experiencing "responsibility problems" among medical trainees (MTs) and some of those recently graduated from medical schools in Iran. Training responsible professionals have always been one of the main concerns of medical educators. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of research in the literature on "responsibility" especially from the medical education point of view. Therefore, the present study was carried out with the aim of presenting a theoretical based framework for understanding how MTs approach their responsibilities in educational settings. METHOD: This qualitative study was conducted at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) using the grounded theory methodology. 15 MTs and 10 clinical experts and professional nurses were purposefully chosen as participants. Data was analyzed using the methodology suggested by Corbin and Strauss, 1998. RESULTS: "Try to find acceptance toward expectations", "try to be committed to meet the expectations" and "try to cope with unacceptable expectations" were three main categories extracted based on the research data. Abstractly, the main objective for using these processes was "to preserve the integrity of student identity" which was the core category of this research too. Moreover, it was also found that practically, "responsibility" is considerably influenced by lots of positive and negative contextual and intervening conditions. CONCLUSION: "Acceptance" was the most decisive variable highly effective in MTs' responsibility. Therefore, investigating the "process of acceptance" regarding the involved contextual and intervening conditions might help medical educators correctly identify and effectively control negative factors and reinforce the constructive ones that affect the concept of responsibility in MTs.

An exploratory study on the elements that might affect medical students' and residents' responsibility during clinical training.

We are now more or less confronting a "challenge of responsibility" among both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students and some recent alumni from medical schools in Iran. This ethical problem calls for urgent etiologic and pathologic investigations into the problem itself and the issues involved. This study aimed to develop a thematic conceptual framework to study factors that might affect medical trainees' (MTs) observance of responsibility during clinical training. A qualitative descriptive methodology involving fifteen in-depth semi-structured interviews was used to collect the data. Interviews were conducted with both undergraduate and postgraduate MTs as well as clinical experts and experienced nurses. Interviews were audio-recorded and then transcribed. The data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. The framework derived from the data included two main themes, namely "contextual conditions" and "intervening conditions". Within each theme, participants recurrently described "individual" and "non-individual or system" based factors that played a role in medical trainees' observance of responsibility. Overall, contextual conditions provide MTs with a "primary or basic responsibility" which is then transformed into a "secondary or observed responsibility" under the influence of intervening conditions. In conclusion three measures were demonstrated to be very important in enhancing Iranian MTs' observance of responsibility: a) to make and implement stricter and more exact admission policies for medical colleges, b) to improve and revise the education system in its different dimensions such as management, structure, etc. based on regular and systematic evaluations, and c) to establish, apply and sustain higher standards throughout the educational environment.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate medical students' and residents' responsibility in clinical settings.

There is a shortage of quantitative measures for assessing the concept of responsibility as a fundamental construct in medical education, ethics and professionalism in existing literature. This study aimed to develop an instrument for measuring responsibility in both undergraduate and graduate medical students during clinical training. Instrument content was based on literature review and mainly qualitative data obtained from a published grounded theory research. The draft questionnaire (Persian version) was then validated and revised with regard to face and content validity. The finalized 41-item questionnaire consists of four domains that were identified using factor analysis. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were also assessed. Test-retest reliability was rather high, ranging between 0.70 and 0.75 for all domains. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.75 - 0.76 for all domains and 0.90 for the composite scale of the whole questionnaire. Correlations between the four domains of the instrument were also satisfactory (r ≤ 0.47 for most domains). The correlation between each domain and the composite scale was higher than its correlation with other domains (r ≥ 0.79 for most domains). The instrument demonstrated good construct and internal validity, and can be suitable for measuring the concept of responsibility in practice in different groups of undergraduate and graduate medical trainees (MTs).

Medical paraclinical standards, political economy of clinic, and patients' clinical dependency; a critical conversation analysis of clinical counseling in South of iran.

BACKGROUND: Despite its benefits and importance, clinical counseling affects the patient both psychosocially and socially. Illness labeling not only leads to many problems for patient and his/her family but also it imposes high costs to health care system. Among various factors, doctor-patient relationship has an important role in the clinical counseling and its medical approach. The goal of this study is to evaluate the nature of clinical counseling based on critical approach. METHODS: The context of research is the second major medical training center in Shiraz, Iran. In this study, Critical Conversation Analysis was used based on the methodologies of critical theories. Among about 50 consultation meetings digitally recorded, 33 were selected for this study. RESULTS: RESULTS show that the nature of doctor-patient relationship in these cases is based on paternalistic model. On the other hand, in all consultations, the important values that were legitimated with physicians were medical paraclinical standards. Paternalism in one hand and standardization on the other leads to dependency of patients to the clinic. CONCLUSION: Although we can't condone the paraclinical standards, clinical counseling and doctor-patient relationship need to reduce its dominance over counseling based on interpretation of human relations, paying attention to social and economical differences of peoples and biosocial and biocultural differences, and focusing on clinical examinations. Also, we need to accept that medicine is an art of interaction that can't reduce it to instrumental and linear methods of body treatment.