Sexual Harassment in Academic Medicine: Persistence, Non-Reporting, and Institutional Response

Sexual harassment occurs with regularity during medical training, and it remains largely unreported. This study is one institution's attempt to understand how third and fourth-year medical students perceive and experience sexual harassment, what they believe about reporting sexual harassment, and how they believe it might be eradicated from the educational environment. We used a qualitative research method for our investigation, which would generate more specific language to use in a larger empirical study involving larger numbers of our students. We conducted five focus groups with 24 students, which yielded five categories of response obtained through a close, line-byline reading of transcribed audiotapes. In addition, we offer four recommendations to medical education researchers, deans of medical schools, and medical school accrediting bodies that may reduce the incidence of sexual harassment of medical students. While we do not make the case that the observations, explanations, and recommendations of these 24 students reflect the opinions of all medical students here or elsewhere, we do propose that they are a snapshot of one medical school's gender climate and offer a valuable foundation for further inquiry.