Nursing, physiotherapy, pharmacy and dental students’ 10 most common professionalism dilemmas reported at least once during the past 12 months
| Question | n (%) of responses | n (and % of gender) for item response; n (%) for item of mode distress rating by gender | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | Male | ||
| Student felt ignored (eg, ignoring student or their views, turning up late or not at all to teaching) by a healthcare professional*† | 748 (53.5) | 651 (56.7); 270 (44.2) Mild | 97 (38.6); 38 (43.7) Mild |
| Student felt excluded from learning opportunity (eg, patient care) by clinical teacher†‡ | 636 (45.5) | 560 (48.8); 230 (43.5) Mild | 76 (30.3); 28 (39.4) Mild |
| Student given menial tasks below their level of competence by a healthcare professional*† | 630 (45.0) | 541 (47.1); 224 (43.4) None | 89 (35.5); 42 (48.3) None |
| Student being subjected to a patient criticising a clinical colleague (eg, doctor, nurse etc)*‡ | 610 (43.6) | 525 (45.7); 224 (43.5) Mild | 85 (33.9); 35 (45.5) Mild |
| Student received verbal abuse from a patient while interacting with them§ | 598 (40.6) | 510 (44.4); 232 (47.1) Mild | 88 (35.1); 42 (50.0) None |
| Student asked questions by clinical teacher that are unrealistic and beyond level of training*ठ| 553 (39.5) | 469 (40.8); 201 (45.1) Mild | 84 (33.5); 35 (44.3) None |
| Student called a derogatory name by a patient§ | 527 (37.7) | 437 (38.1); 186 (43.9) Mild | 90 (35.9); 52 (58.4) None |
| Healthcare professional talked about a patient inappropriately to student or other HCP*†‡§ | 483 (34.5) | 417 (36.3); 170 (43.6) Mild | 66 (26.3); 27 (45.8) Mild |
| Student asked repeated questions by clinical teacher in an intimidating way (eg, ‘grilled’, ‘drilled’)*‡ | 431 (30.8) | 362 (31.5); 155 (44.8) Mild | 69 (27.5); 31 (47.0) Mild |
| Student felt humiliated in front of a patient by a healthcare professional | 413 (29.5) | 366 (31.9); 133 (37.7) Moderate | 47 (18.7); 18 (40.9) Mild |
Number of responses based on participants indicated this had happened, distress responses were lower as some omitted to answer this part of the question.
*Significant effect of frequency on moral distress.
†Also in the top three most frequently reported patient-focused or student-focused dilemmas (reported occurring 6+ times over the past year).
‡These 5 items also fall within the top 10 most reported events by medical students in table 1.
§Significant effect of gender on moral distress.