Supporting Future Doctors - GMC Seeks Views On Medical Students' Health Issues

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 29 Jun 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The General Medical Council (GMC) and the Medical Schools Council (MSC) have launched a consultation on a new section in guidance about how medical students' health can affect their fitness to practise.

The guidance, Medical students: professional behaviour and fitness to practice was successfully published by the GMC and MSC in 2007. It advised medical students about the professional behaviour expected of them as well making recommendations to medical schools on developing robust and consistent fitness to practise procedures. This next phase of consultation will include information about what action should be taken when students' health problems could impact on patient safety.

The new section of the guidance recognises that poor health can affect a student's fitness to practise either directly or by contributing to misconduct. It asks that students be aware that their own health problems may put patients and colleagues at risk. For the first time the guidance calls on medical schools to provide medical students with the opportunity to seek support before poor health becomes a fitness to practise concern.

The consultation will also ask for views about how the GMC can support the implementation of the guidance and how to improve the consistency of decision-making on student fitness to practise within and between medical schools.

Good Medical Practice, which sets out the principles and values expected of doctors, forms the corner-stone of this guidance in order to make sure potential doctors understand their professional responsibilities right from the start.

Professor Peter Rubin, Chairman of the GMC Education Committee says: "We hope the guidance will be useful to both students and the medical schools responsible for their education. Most medical students are aware that they have privileges and responsibilities different from those of other students and that their behaviour outside the clinical environment, including in their personal lives, may have an impact on their fitness to practise. Students' behaviour at all times must justify the trust the public places in the medical profession.

"We hope that our amended guidance makes it clear what standards of professional behaviour are expected but also that there should be support for those students with difficulties in meeting these expectations for whatever reason."

Professor Tony Weetman, Medical Schools Council said:

"Our aim has been to provide a positive set of recommendations that will help students establish their own good medical practice and develop an independent sense of professional responsibility. We support this step towards ensuring that UK medical schools have robust and consistent fitness to practise procedures and encourage all those involved in medical education to read our guidance and respond to the consultation."

The consultation closes on 19 September 2008. Once finalised, the guidance will be used by medical schools across the UK.

http://www.gmc-uk.org