Medical student mistreatment by patients in the clinical environment: prevalence and management

Medical students rely on patients and their families as teachers during the learning journey. However, ill patients and their families may not welcome having students participating in their care, and anecdotal instances of abuse against clinical medical students are not uncommon. We aimed to determine the prevalence of medical student mistreatment by patients and their families and describe students' self-reported responses to such incidents.

An email link to an anonymised electronic survey form was sent to all clinical students (n = 184) at a Singapore medical school. The first part of the survey sought information on whether the student had previous experiences of mistreatment by patients and their families. If so, the frequency of mistreatment, circumstances when mistreatment happened and students' reactions were collected. In the second part, the students were asked if they knew how to handle such mistreatment incidents.

There were a total of 91 respondents, 14.3% of whom had experienced mistreatment by patients and their families in our institution. One-third of the affected students felt fearful or humiliated. However, the majority chose to be passive by saying nothing or moving away. Less than half of the students knew how to handle such incidents or where to seek help.

Incidents of mistreatment in our school are not uncommon. Our study revealed a need for more clarity and guidance about how students can manage such situations. This is an important topic because such mistreatment is known to inflict emotional disturbance in students. We proposed a workflow to help students deal with mistreatment.