Factors that impact on medical student wellbeing

What were the key findings?

• Monitoring medical student perceptions across eight core domains can provide an indication of student wellbeing during medical training.

• Analysis of findings from the pilot showed that medical schools performed very well on the ‘acquisition of knowledge and skills’ domain but not so well on ‘travel and orientation’.

• Delivering improvements to the ‘culture’ domain – which addressed student isolation and personal resilience - was found to have the greatest impact on individual wellbeing.

Why did we commission this research?

We wanted to develop a survey tool to help medical schools better understand their students’ needs and concerns with regard to key risk factors, helping them to provide more tailored support to their student population.

What did the research involve?

The survey was designed in collaboration with medical students at Cardiff University and draws on an existing occupational health risk assessment tool. The survey was piloted at two medical schools and then extended to an additional six to gain perspectives from medical schools of different sizes and styles of programme. Focus groups were held at four of the schools to seek further feedback on student wellbeing and to identify potential areas for improvement.

I want the full report

Factors that impact on medical student wellbeing – Perspectives of risks