DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.21029602
title: Raw Data

description: <strong>Recruitment</strong> Inclusion criteria was only limited to inpatient adults and young people over 16 years of age who were able to comprehend the study information. On paediatric wards, consent was gained from a guardian, and the guardian’s response to the questionnaire recorded. Excluded inpatients were those admitted with active COVID-19 infection, those on the intensive care unit (due to the level of care needs), those in the emergency department (as these patients were largely not admitted), and patients who were unable to comprehend the study information. Patients were not approached if their attending medical team felt they had significant acute or chronic cognitive impairment. Data collection was completed between 18/02/2022 and 16/03/2022 inclusive at University Hospitals Plymouth, UK. Eligible patients were approached on these wards within the data collection period (n=234) were invited to participate, of which 200 were surveyed (or their guardians in the case of 17 paediatric patients). During their 3rd and 4th years of studies, medical students at University of Plymouth Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry have 60 clinical placement weeks. 37 of these involve students talking to and/or examining in-patients. The relative number of weeks spent in medical/ surgical/ obstetric/ paediatric/ mental health specialities was calculated as a fraction of the 37 week total and used to guide the number of participants recruited from different wards. This was done with the expectation that patients within different specialities would have different demographics and perception of risk, and aimed to ensure results are generally applicable for medical student training. <strong>Questionnaire Design</strong> There were no appropriate or validated pre-existing questionnaires on literature search, therefore an original questionnaire was created. The seventeen questions were designed as statements. Responses were collected via a combination of modified Likert scale and multiple-choice questions (Appendix). The opening question ‘<em>I am happy to talk with a medical student and allow them to examine me’</em> formed our pre-intervention measurement. The following two questions covered the participant’s COVID-19 history (vaccinations and prior infections), with a further nine questions covering areas which we felt might influence participant willingness to see medical students. These questions, our interventional questionnaire, aimed to prompt reflection by participants on the risks of COVID-19 and the benefits of medical student interaction. We then repeated the opening question as a post-intervention measurement to explore the effect of our intervention on willingness to engage in medical education. The final four questions were intended to ascertain what measures would minimise participants perceived risk of COVID-19 and therefore make participants feel more comfortable about being seen by a medical student, with regards to guidance at time of data collection.[10, 11, 12] These included the use of outpatient settings, vaccination and interval LFTs by students, and the use of PPE. <strong>Delivery and Analysis</strong> The survey was hosted online by Online Surveys and administered via tablet devices. Data collection was performed by three junior doctors and two medical students, referred to hereafter as recruiters. The medical students were on clinical placement at the time of questionnaire administration. Informed consent was gained verbally after the recruiter read a standardised opening explanation to the patient and/or guardian. Participants completed the questionnaire independently on a tablet device where able, but to ensure those with sensory impairments were able to complete the questionnaire, some participants were facilitated by recruiters. We recognise this study design is open to volunteer bias, but aimed to address this by minimising exclusion criteria, and maximising patient engagement through facilitation. We aimed to match our criteria to those used when determining which patients should be approached for educational contact with medical students while on ward placements for external validity. Data analysis was performed using the statistics software, R[13]. All variables of interest are categorical and were therefore summarised using frequencies and percentages of non-missing data. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to examine the change in willingness to see medical students between pre- and post-intervention along with the change in willingness between post-intervention and in a hypothetical outpatient clinic. A Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the pre-intervention willingness of patients to see medical students when provided the questionnaire by a Doctor or by a medical student. A p-value of &lt;0.05 is considered statistically significant and all are two-sided. Patient and Public Involvement The questionnaire content was peer-reviewed by the Patient Experience & Engagement Lead for University Hospitals Plymouth and a patient representative. Their feedback was incorporated into the final version of the questionnaire. Ethical Approval After discussion with the Plymouth Research and Development team, this study did not require ethical approval and was registered with the Clinical Audit Department, University Hospital Plymouth (Reference: CA_2021-22-253) as a Service Evaluation. All patients gave informed consent after explanatory information was given.