ABSTRACT
Objective
To analyze the meanings attributed to the experience of bedside teaching in groups on hospital wards.
Methods
This research used a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The sample was composed of eleven patients hospitalized in a hospital in Recife. The interviews were subjected to content analysis and the formation of the categories was based on health psychology, employing a biopsychosocial approach.
Results and discussion
The participants perceived the bedside teaching as a good thing, which helps the students’ learning, but some considered it as negative and unfamiliar. Furthermore, the participants interpreted the bedside teaching as a space for physicians, in which they should not participate, where communication is centered on the student doctors. This attitude may not favor the construction of the doctor-patient relationship and, thus, contribute to a feeling of passivity among patients.
Conclusion
Although most the patients evaluated the bedside teaching positively, since communication was focused on the student doctors, it limited the patients’ participation during the activity.
Health Education; Physician-Patient Relations; Health Communication; Medical Education; Qualitative Research