Expectations and opinions of pregnant women about medical students being involved in care at the time of delivery

Information was collected from pregnant women about their knowledge of and previous experience with medical students; their opinions towards medical students being involved at the time of delivery and the socioeconomic and religious influences on these. The format of the study was a self-administered questionnaire survey. The setting was a teaching hospital in the UK. In total, 118 pregnant women aged between 15 and 46 years, with a gestational age of 18-42 weeks were surveyed. Factors which significantly influenced acceptance of medical students were found to be previous number of children (P = < 0.001) and religious beliefs of the pregnant women (P = 0.002). Only 51.4% of antenatal women knew that a "medical student" is a doctor in training and most assumed that the role of the student at the time of delivery required very few clinical skills. Only 13.6% knew that medical students could deliver a baby under supervision. Of the 118 subjects, 95.4% thought that student participation at the time of delivery was a worthwhile learning experience; however, only 74.6% were actually willing for a student to be involved. In conclusion, pregnant women appear to have made their decisions about medical student participation by balancing personal needs with a sense of responsibility to help in the education of others. The results suggest the patients need more information about medical students, including an explanation of the term 'medical student' and an outline of the role they play during the intrapartum period.