This paper propounds two main theses. First, it asserts that the boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship are not clearly delineated, but they are clarified by the clarified contexts in which they are formed. Second, there is a need to formulate a set of guidelines that are flexible enough to accommodate ambiguous situations and yet definitive enough to define the limits of the interaction between the doctor and the patient. In order to advance the aforementioned theses, this paper will clarify what boundary transgressions are, how they come about, and how they could avoided.
Human ; PROFESSIONAL-PATIENT RELATIONS ; PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONS

Contemporary medical ethics is far from the traditional concept of "In-Sul (benevolent art)" or "Yul-Li (ethics)", which emphasizes so much the personality or the character of a doctor. Nowadays, medical ethics should be considered as "professional ethics" which regulates the acts and medical practices of ordinary doctors in their daily practice. The key concepts of the professional ethics are "autonomy", "integrity", and "professional standard" established by medical organizations such as medical societies or associations. Most of Korean doctors have not been familiar with the concept of professional ethics or professionalism, which is due to the modern history of Korea. However, the concept of professional ethics is really critical to Korean doctors from the perspective of professional dignity and social respect to this profession. The current healthcare system of Korea is suffering from many problems of both private and public sector. Nonetheless, the professional ethics is urgently demanded for that very reason.
Delivery of Health Care ; *Ethics, Medical ; *Ethics, Professional ; Humans ; Physician-Patient Relations

Confidentiality ; Electronic Mail ; Ethics, Medical ; Humans ; Internet ; Patient Education as Topic ; Physician-Patient Relations ; Professional Role ; Social Support

Clothing ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus/*isolation & purification ; Physician-Patient Relations ; Safety ; Staphylococcal Infections/*transmission

In recent years, the physician's professionalism seemed to be facing or experiencing a phase of change. To investigate this phenomenon, social perception and attitude toward physicians were surveyed and analyzed. The subjects consisted of three types of sample group, namely, the general public, physicians, and medical students. Data were collected through interviews, mailing, and self-administered questionnaire surveys to each sample, respectively. The results of analysis showed us that social evaluation of physicians in Korean society exhibited ambivalent perceptions toward physicians. The physician's occupational status was generally evaluated by the three samples as being in a higher stratum in the social structure. But there were great gaps between their perceptions of the change in the physician's occupational status. While the general public perceived that the physician's status might improve in the future, physicians and medical students predicted an absolute declination of the status. Although the general public sympathized with the physician's characteristics as a professional group, an apparent tendency to assume the attitude of a fairly equal relationship toward physicians has increased. The transitional change in the physician's professionalism could be observed through the ubiquity in the perception of the patient's rights in doctor-patient relationships. Such phenomena are believed to have caused physicians to think that not only has their status declined in recent years but also that this declination of social status would continue in the future.
Attitude ; Human ; *Physician-Patient Relations ; Professional Practice/*trends ; Public Opinion ; Questionnaires ; Social Perception ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

INTRODUCTIONTraining of future physicians in the care of elderly patients will need to evolve in accordance with the exponential increase of elderly patients, but some may have preconceived attitudes affecting their management. This study determined medical students' attitudes towards older people and their willingness to consider a career in Geriatric Medicine.

MATERIALS AND METHODSAll 250 first-year medical students, prior to any formal clinical exposure at the National University of Singapore School of Medicine, were asked to participate voluntarily in the study based on the UCLA Geriatrics Attitudes Scale. The 14-item questionnaire consisted of a mixture of positively and negatively worded questions answered on a 5-point Likert scale. A fifteenth question enquired about their willingness to consider Geriatric Medicine as a potential career choice.

RESULTSThe mean UCLA attitudes score was 3.58 [+/-standard deviation (SD), 0.41] suggesting a generally positive attitude. There was a strong association between attitude scores and willingness to consider Geriatric Medicine as a career (R = 0.48, P <001). However, only one third of the cohort was willing to consider a career in Geriatric Medicine. There was no difference in attitude scores between male and female students, but females were significantly more likely to consider Geriatric Medicine as a potential career choice.

CONCLUSIONFirst-year medical students in Singapore have a generally positive attitude towards older people, although only 1 in 3 persons was willing to consider a career in Geriatric Medicine. Higher attitude scores and female gender were the main predictors of willingness to consider a career in Geriatric Medicine.

Adult ; Aged ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Career Choice ; Education, Medical ; ethics ; Female ; Geriatrics ; education ; Humans ; Male ; Physician-Patient Relations ; ethics ; Professional-Patient Relations ; Prospective Studies ; Schools, Medical ; Sex Factors ; Singapore ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This paper is a report of a concept analysis of 'quality of pediatric nursing care'. METHODS: Rodgers's evolutionary method of concept analysis was used. Data were collected from published literature related to quality of pediatric nursing care. RESULTS: Quality of pediatric nursing care was identified with three dimensions and seven attributes: 1) nurse's character: technical competence, interpersonal competence, 2) nurse's activities: developmentally appropriate care, attentiveness, entertainment, 3) nurse-parent interaction: nurse-parent partnership, emotional support. Antecedents of quality of pediatric nursing care were 'child and parent's expectation about pediatric nursing care', 'previous caring experience of pediatric nurses'. Consequences of quality of pediatric nursing care were 'meet child and parent's needs' and 'better health outcomes.' CONCLUSION: 'Quality of pediatric nursing care' is a core concept in pediatric nursing practice. Appropriate instruments to operationalize the concept need to be developed.
Child ; Humans ; Nurse-Patient Relations ; Nurses/psychology ; Pediatric Nursing/*standards ; Professional Competence ; *Quality of Health Care

Humans ; Physicians ; Professional-Patient Relations

Introduction: Open disclosure is poorly understood in Malaysia but is an ethical and professional responsibility. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the perception of parents regarding the severity of medical error in relation to medication use or diagnosis; (2) the preference of parents for information following the medical error and its relation to severity; and (3) the preference of parents with regards to disciplinary action, reporting, and legal action. Methods: We translated and contextualised a questionnaire developed from a previous study. The questionnaire consisted of four case vignettes that described the following: medication error with a lifelong complication; diagnostic error with a lifelong complication; diagnostic error without lifelong effect; and medication error without lifelong effect. Each case vignette was followed by a series of questions examining the subject’s perception on the above areas. We also determined the content validity of the questionnaire. We invited parents of Malaysian children admitted to the paediatric wards of Tuanku Jaafar Hospital to participate in the study. Results: One hundred and twenty-three parents participated in the study. The majority of parents wanted to be told regarding the event. As the severity of the case vignettes increased, the desire for information, remedial action, acknowledgement of responsibility, compensation, punishment, legal action, and reporting to a higher agency also increased. The findings did not have strong evidence of a relationship with subject’s demographics. Conclusion: This study gives insights into previously unexplored perspectives and preferences of parents in Malaysia regarding open disclosure. It also highlights the opportunity for more research in this area with potentially broad applications.
Disclosure ; Professional-Patient Relations ; Patient Rights

The experimental study has been conducted in six townships of Koyang County, Kyonggi Province to identify more efficient methods of carrying the Intra-Uterine Device (IUD) into rural areas since May 1965, covering in all 76,810 inhabitants with 10,073 eligible women in 13,947 households. IUD acceptance rates are improved remarkably in two townships with activities of the mobile service and stationary clinic, impling that the IUD program could be intensified if IUD services are extended to the village either by mobile service or stationary services. The most of the eligible women wanting IUD in the future preferred to have IUD insertion by female physician on the before survey, but the results of the study shows no difference in IUD insertions by female and male physicians. Reasons to choose a clinic for IUD insertion are most likely to be accessibility or availability and reliability of the service with a little shyness problem. It indicates that the sex of physician inserter is not important in Korea. IUD termination rates are least for postpartum, and are trivially different between those inserted within ten days after onset of menstruation and those inserted later. IUD termination rates in terms of the qualification of inserter show that Ob-Gyn specialist is with the lowest termination rates, but it is interesting that nurse working alone with the postpartum cases did best of all and suggested that nurses can potentially insert IUD's as efficiently as do physicians if the proper training is given to them.
Attitude ; Female ; Human ; *Intrauterine Devices ; Korea ; Nurse-Patient Relations ; Physician-Patient Relations ; Pregnancy