Before entering in the room and starting the examination, don’t forget to ask the doctor/tutor informations about the patient’s state of health and don’t engage in diagnostic procedures without previously obtaining informed consent from the patient.

As students, we are often tempted to take every occasion to put to practice on the patients everything we have learned during our theoretical studies. Despite this understandable propension, it is imperative to remember to consider the patient not as a test subject to exercise on, but as a person, with not negligible needs and sensitivity. In the same way, focusing on a single pathological aspect could lead to neglect the patient’s overall state of health, on a physical, psychological and general well-being level. It is thus essential for future doctors to learn from the first years of training to evaluate these aspects as a whole, before starting any diagnostic and therapeutic path. Likewise, the collection of the informed consent must be seen as a fundamental moment to speak to the patient, inform him on the indications and contraindication of the suggested examination and possible diagnostic and therapeutic alternatives.

Sources

1. Roli Mathur, Rajib Kishore Hazam, Kalyani Thakur (2017) When Patients Become Guinea Pigs – A fictitious case of ethics dumping based on real events; case study for TRUST project.
2. H. W. Romana Is Evidence-Based Medicine Patient-Centered and Is Patient-Centered Care Evidence-Based? Health Serv Res. 2006 Feb; 41(1): 1–8.
3. L. A. Siminoff Incorporating patient and family preferences into evidence-based medicine. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013; 13(Suppl 3): S6.

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Attention. Please note that these items are provided only for information and are not intended as a substitute for consultation with a clinician. Patients with any specific questions about the items on this list or their individual situation should consult their clinician.