PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

In doctor-patient communication, Indonesian medical students use vocative kin terms (addressing patients as in the familial address system) at all stages of history taking for patients. Previous research in Java described the use of polite Indonesian vocative kin terms in an institutional setting in Bali and Lombok. The present study addresses the following research questions: 1) At what ages do medical students agree with the use of polite vocative Indonesian kin terms to strengthen the bonds between them and their patients? 2) Do the ethnic backgrounds of the students' parents influence the use of polite vocative kin terms? This research used a qualitative descriptive approach. The results shows that the medical students agree that such usage deepens the bonds at the heart of doctor-patient communication. In addition, the ethnic background of the medical students' parents had no influence on whether polite vocative Indonesian kin terms were used.