Background:

respect for the autonomy of the patient and a respectful behavior in general are key features of medical professionalism.

Objective:

to investigate the presence of professional traits of respect for the autonomy of patients and of respect in general in the verbal expressions of professionals in the field of primary health care during their interaction with patients and students in the last year of the Medicine degree.

Methods:

a qualitative research of an exploratory nature was carried out in the context of mandatory final practices in two Primary Health Care Centers in the city of Tandil, Republic of Argentina, during the year 2019. The following theoretical methods were used: analysis-synthesis, inductive-deductive and method of critical review of the literature and empirical ones: the recorded record of 28 meetings between experts, students and patients was made. The sessions were analyzed by opposing sources of researchers.

Results:

the verbal expressions of the experts made it possible to identify statements related to traits of respect in general and respect for the autonomy of the patients. These were evidenced in statements to build an environment of trust and confidentiality, the effort to provide explanations in a clear and simple way, the attention to the patients' doubts and the formulation of explanations on how to proceed, in an accessible language.

Conclusions:

the presence of professional traits of respect for the autonomy of patients and respect in general was identified, both in interactions with patients and with students.

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