Australian first-and second-year medical students' perceptions of professionalism when (not) asking patients about Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander identification: A scenario-based experimental study

Abstract

Objective: Australian Best Practice Guidelines recommend that medical practitioners ask their patients a single standard Indigenous-status question. The present research investigated perceptions of this protocol by currently-enrolled Australian medical students. Methods: Using a problem-based learning method, medical students were presented with a doctor-patient interaction in which: (1) the doctor’s Indigenous identity was implied (or not), and (2) an Indigenous identification request to the patient was made (or not). Perceptions of the professionalism of the encounter were measured using seven-point rating scales on 13 descriptive terms (e.g., professional, safe, appropriate). Results: Ratings of the doctor’s professionalism were high across all conditions. However, the statistical interaction between the doctor’s own (implied) Indigenous identity and the request for the patient’s Indigenous identification was significant. Students considered it more professional for a non-Indigenous doctor to ask about patients’ Indigenous identification than to not ask; no such difference occurred when the doctor was Indigenous. Conclusions: Students may see these best practice recommendations as only applicable to non-Indigenous doctors. However, the high ratings of professionalism overall suggest that while asking patients’ Indigenous identification was not seen as problematic, importantly, students did not recognise problems with not asking (counter to current best practice).