Frequency and perceived severity of negative experiences during medical education in Germany--results of an online-survery of medical students.
OBJECTIVE
Negative experiences during the course of medical education have been reported in many countries, but little is known about the perceived severity of these experiences. We studied for the first time how often students at a medical university in Germany have had negative experiences, and how severe they perceive these to be.


METHODS
We asked medical students in an online survey whether they felt adequately appreciated, had experienced peer rivalry, verbal abuse by their mentors, physical abuse or mistreatment, sexual harassment, racial or ethnic discrimination, or any other kind of mistreatment.


RESULTS
Of 391 students, 56% stated that they felt insufficiently appreciated, 51% had experienced rivalry, and 34% had suffered verbal abuse. Fifty-nine percent of the students felt highly aggrieved because of verbal abuse, while 46% were aggrieved by the ongoing rivalry and 32% by the lack of appreciation. Significantly fewer students felt upset because they were passed over or ignored (21%). Generally, female students felt more often aggrieved by these negative experiences than their male colleagues.


CONCLUSIONS
Of the possible negative experiences, the less prominent ones such as lack of appreciation or verbal abuse are not only frequent, they are also perceived as very upsetting. Medical teachers should reflect this more in their day-to-day dealings with students and aim to improve on their contact with the students accordingly.
University Medical Center, Department of General Practice/Family Medicine, Göttingen, Germany. igagyor@gwdg.de
Ildikó
I
Gágyor
Nadine
N
Hilbert
Jean-François
JF
Chenot
Gabriella
G
Marx
Tuulia
T
Ortner
Anne
A
Simmenroth-Nayda
Martin
M
Scherer
Sven
S
Wedeken
Wolfgang
W
Himmel
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D004501:Education, Medical; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D045809:Human Rights Abuses / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors / Q000523:psychology*; D010379:Peer Group; D011287:Prejudice / Q000523:psychology*; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires