Abstract

Patient-centred care refers to the prevention, treatment of illness and the preservation of the physical and mental
well-being of a patient through services offered by the health professional. The concept of patient-centred care has
received increased attention in medical practice. Knowledge about what patient-centred care is among
undergraduate health practitioners and their attitudes towards caring for patients is important for patient outcomes
in the future. This study is therefore aiming at assessing the knowledge and attitudes towards patient-centred care
among undergraduate health care students in KIU-WC. This study employed a prospective cross-sectional design.
A properly constructed and validated questionnaire was used to collect the information. The questionnaire has into
three sections; Section A captured the demographic data of the undergraduate students, Section B captured the
knowledge of these undergraduate students about patient-centered care and Section C captured the attitudes that
these undergraduate students have towards providing patient-centered Care. Based on the results of the study, the
majority 251(50.2%) of the respondents had good knowledge about patient care. Half 250 (50.0%) of the respondents
had a good attitude and half 250(50.0%). Studies showed a having good knowledge is significantly (P=0.000)
associated with students’ having a good attitude towards patient care. There was no significant relationship between
students’ level of knowledge and gender (P=0.938), marital status (P=0.100), nationality (P=0.512) and course of
study (P=0.256), while age (P=0.019), religion (P=0.008), year of study (P=0.000) and medical experience/
industrial training (P=0.049) significantly affected students’ level of knowledge. From the study, males had poor
attitudes towards patient care (P=0.002). Respondents between the age of 16-25 years (P=0.404) had poor attitudes.
Respondents who were single (P=0.207) had a good attitude. Pharmacy students had the highest knowledge
75(54.3%) compared to medicine 99(51.6%) and nursing 77(45.3%), but this did not translate to the best attitude as
medical students had the highest attitude grade of 109(56.8%) and it was a significant difference (P=0.256).
Conclusion Our study has shown that as high as half of the students have both poor knowledge and attitude towards
patient care services. This calls for a clarion review of their curriculum to enhance theory and practice towards
patient care practices.