Student doctors taking responsibility.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Graduate Medical Training
• Clinical Skills Development

Background:

• New guidelines mandate undergraduate medical students to complete assistantships.
• These assistantships require students to perform duties similar to a first-year graduate doctor (FY1 doctor) under supervision.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of implementing these required medical student assistantships.
• To identify barriers and necessary conditions for successful assistantship programs.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire was distributed to all UK medical schools.
• The survey focused on required supervision and implementation barriers for student assistantships.

Main Results:

• Most respondents found existing clinical placement competencies and tacit competencies (e.g., infection control) suitable.
• High-risk activities (e.g., prescribing) and some low-risk, hard-to-measure activities were deemed unsuitable or requiring continuous supervision.
• Barriers included clinical governance, patient safety protocols, role definition, and insufficient duration for meaningful experience.

Conclusions:

• Practical challenges exist in assigning responsibilities to student doctors during assistantships.
• Successful assistantships necessitate longer durations for genuine responsibility and increased investment in supervision.
• NHS trusts must re-evaluate risk management to balance short-term and long-term benefits for these programs.