Intended for healthcare professionals

Analysis Ethical Debate

Students whose behaviour causes concern: Case history

BMJ 2008; 337 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a2874 (Published 29 December 2008) Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2874

What should you do when you see a fellow student behaving inappropriately? After a group of students wrote to the BMJ about their experience during an elective, we sought the opinions of an ethicist (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2882), a dean (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2884), a GMC representative (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2876), and a lecturer from an African university (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2875)

Medical students are in a position of privilege and trust in their everyday interactions with patients. The General Medical Council (GMC) guidance states that students must protect patients from harm posed by another colleague’s poor behaviour, performance, or health and raise any concerns with an appropriate person.1 However, there is no obvious channel for raising concerns, particularly when problems are encountered away from your university. We describe …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription