FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENTS AND COMMUNITY PHYSICIANS CONCERNS ABOUT PATIENT TRUTHFULNESS

Purpose: To assess how often family physicians question patient truthf ulness, what factors influence them to do so, and how often resident p hysicians experience such doubts as compared with senior physicians. M ethod. In 1994-95, after half-day patient care sessions, 44 residents from the University of Kansas School of Medicine's three Wichita famil y practice residency programs and nine community family physicians ass ociated with the programs recorded their impressions of each patient's truthfulness, what issues prompted concern about patient truthfulness , and their feelings about each encounter. Results. The residents doub ted patients in 54 of 277 encounters (19.5%); the senior physicians do ubted patients in 16 of 183 encounters (8.1%) (P = .003). Both groups had more negative than positive emotions toward such encounters, with no significant difference in feelings. The demographics of the residen t and senior physician populations differed greatly. Conclusion. Altho ugh preliminary, the present study suggests that family physicians que stion patient truthfulness fairly often, resident physicians more than senior physicians, and that these physicians have some negative feeli ngs toward such situations. Because such feelings may contribute to in adequate patient care, the authors recommend that further research is warranted to understand contributing factors and to guide the developm ent of resident and student education programs in this neglected area of the doctor-patient relationship.