The personal tutor system: an evaluation

The stressful nature of medical student training is being increasingly recognized. This study describes a questionnaire survey of the long running personal tutor system (intended to help with social as well as educational needs of clinical students), at a London medical school. Just over one half of students and one third of tutors were highly satisfied with the system. Satisfaction in students was linked with regularity, but not frequency, of meetings, being 'chased' by tutors, and engaging in social as well as educational activities. A small but worrying percentage of students reported that they would not be able to share personal or academic difficulties with tutors, highlighting the need for other avenues of support/counselling to be made available to students.