Medical student perceptions of physical and emotional safety before and after 5-week mental health placements

Abstract

Objective: Understanding whether medical students feel safe in mental health placements is important to delivering effective and engaging training experiences. Method: Second year students completed anonymous online surveys before ( n = 37) and after ( n = 41) mental health placements, to gather qualitative and quantitative data about their sense of physical and emotional safety, and factors that positively and negatively influenced their experiences. Data were analysed using chi square and content analysis. Results: There was a disparity between students’ expectations of physical and emotional safety before placements and their actual experience. Following placement, no students reported that they felt physically ‘unsafe’ or ‘very unsafe’. Conversely, over 20% of students indicated that they had felt emotionally unsafe during their placement. When asked to compare their expectations prior to placement with their actual experience, over 13% felt ‘much less safe’ emotionally, where no participants felt ‘much less safe’ physically. Qualitative content identified included exposure to patients’ tragic life stories, aggression, the physical ward environment and adequacy of supports. Conclusions: The distinction between physical and emotional safety is a valuable framework through which to understand the student experience of clinical placements in psychiatry and to seek to best support students. The data provide rich insight into students’ experiences, particularly emotional challenges, on psychiatry wards.

Medical students’ evaluation of a suicide prevention multimedia resource: A focus group study

“…Medical students learn at a time of developmental challenge as they accept increasing social roles and obligations, as well as some experiencing their own mental health problems (Arnett, 2007). Some find themselves emotionally taxed in responding to people in psychological distress (Gallan et al, 2020). The multimedia resource promotes active learning experiences as clinical teachers and peers role-model expectations that students transitioning into medical professionals have a definite role in interacting with and relating to people with mental distress who are thinking about suicide (Monrouxe, 2010).…”

A Survey on Undergraduate Nursing Students Safety during Fundamentals of Nursing Practicum

“…Chaung, Seung-Kyo 1) • Shin, Yun Hee 2) • Kang,Youngmi 3) • Choi, Dongwon 4) • Jeong, Hye Sun 5) • Song, Youngshin 6) • Kim, Hyun-Ju 7) • Kim, Ji-Su 8) • Sohng, Kyeong-Yae 9) • Park, Hyoung Sook 10) • Park, Soohyun 11) 기본간호학회지 28(3), 2021년 8월…”

The case for greater mental health teaching in the pre-clinical medical school curriculum

“…1 Whilst the authors concluded that safety frameworks should be established pre-placement, I argue that medical schools must go beyond this and provide more thorough pre-clinical training in mental health literacy (MHL) and clinical psychiatry. 1…”

“…Whilst Gallan et al found that 51.35% of medical students had some concerns regarding their physical safety pre-placement, no student reported feeling physically unsafe in the post-survey. 1…”

“…Gallan et al’s recent paper in the journal found that medical students rated their mental health rotation as physically safer but more emotionally taxing compared with their beliefs pre-placement. 1 Whilst the authors concluded that safety frameworks should be established pre-placement, I argue that medical schools must go beyond this and provide more thorough pre-clinical training in mental health literacy (MHL) and clinical psychiatry. 1…”