Bullying in medical schools
BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0610357 (Published 01 October 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:0610357
- Diana F Wood, director of medical education and clinical dean1
- 1University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2SP
Recent changes in undergraduate medical education have been rapid and profound. Faced with the explosion of knowledge, ongoing technological advances, patients' changing expectations, the recognition of health inequalities worldwide, and better understanding of educational theory, medical educators have striven to provide undergraduate programmes that equip students with basic knowledge, skills, and attitudes that recognise their immediate progression into independent practice and their need to develop skills as lifelong learners.
PHOTOS.COM
A bully? Moi?
Old questions, new answers
What remains familiar at the core of medical education is exposure to patients with their multifaceted problems and the experience of health care at the point of delivery. Sadly, clinical practice also exposes medical students to some of the best recognised yet least easily solved problems in medical education: bullying and harassment. A study by Frank and colleagues in the BMJ reports the experiences of US medical students of this important but uncomfortable issue that needs to be tackled.1
Bullying and harassment occur in all organisations, although rates seem to be higher in healthcare institutions,23 and such behaviour may be more common in medical faculties than in other higher education departments.4 Many definitions of bullying and harassment exist,56 and can be categorised into threats …
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