Medical student involvement in a major disaster

Five to six months after the deaths of 95 football spectators at Hillsborough football ground, senior clinical students at Sheffield Medical School were surveyed in order to assess their degree of involvement with the disaster. Approximately one student in eight could be said to have had a high level of involvement. Students with high involvement showed higher levels of distress on both the General Health Questionnaire and the Impact of Events Scale. Only a small minority of students attended psychological debriefing groups or counselling sessions, perhaps due to the stigma attached to professional help-seeking. The results have implications for medical training and provision of support within medical schools.