Student professionalism and fitness to practise

Being a medical student means joining a trusted profession. A profession which requires a high standard of behaviour at all times. This content has been created to help you - the medical student - meet those standards, and help your medical school provide a consistent, supporting environment.

Guidance for medical students and schools

Medical students

Students discussing their work in a group

Achieving good medical practice

Advice
This guidance outlines the standards expected of medical students – both inside and outside medical school. It references our ethical guidance Good medical practice.

Medical schools

Medical professionals in a meeting

Professional behaviour and fitness to practise

This guidance is aimed at medical school and university staff, and placement provider organisations who identify, manage and support students whose professionalism or fitness to practise is a cause for concern.

Guidance for PA and AA students, and schools

PA and AA students

Students discussing their work

Achieving good medical practice: interim guidance for PA and AA students

As a physician associate (PA) or anaesthesia associate (AA) student, you must demonstrate a high standard of behaviour at all times, which justifies the trust placed in you as a future member of these professions.

Physician associate course providers

Two students, one wearing scrubs, chat about their work

Professional behaviour and FTP: interim guidance for PA course providers and students

Fitness to practise is a part of how courses help their students become excellent professionals. Course providers must have a process to identify and deal with students whose fitness to practise may be impaired.

Resources and further information

Back
AGMP in action

Achieving good medical practice in action

These interactive scenarios encourage you to think about how our guidance applies to real life.

Three female doctors reviewing notes
Working on the ward
Working on the ward can be fast-paced and requires you to react effectively and appropriately. Here, our medical student grapples with personal health issues, carrying out procedures and reflective practice.
Three students talking
Private life and social media
Social media is often useful, but can present some additional challenges for doctors. These scenarios look at confidentiality, perceptions, and the doctor-patient relationship.
Doctor explaining
Working with others and the public
As a doctor you will work with and treat people from all parts of society, and encounter many ethical issues. These scenarios consider issues around raising concerns, personal beliefs and honesty.
The expert view

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Watch this video to hear more about professionalism and our guidance from experts at your medical school. 

Achieving good medical practice: guidance for medical students video transcript
Guidance in practice

Student scenarios

These fictional case studies will help you see how Achieving good medical practice and Professional behaviour and fitness to practise can be applied to real life scenarios.

Topics include social media use, personal health, serious misconduct, working in isolated environments, and repeated low level concerns

Read the case studies

Thought pieces

Some areas of our guidance have generated discussion among medical schools and their students.

Read our thoughts on these discussions, and contributions from medical school staff considering the guidance in day-to-day situations.

Read the thought pieces

Myths and questions

We have put together a myth buster and FAQs to help students and medical schools understand the guidance.

View the myth busters and questions
Good practice examples

Examples submitted by medical educators

We asked medical schools to tell us what steps they have taken towards implementing the guidance, any difficulties, and how they had communicated it to their students.

View the examples

Professionalism in teaching

How is professional behaviour taught at medical school? And what are the best ways to teach professionalism to medical students? We collaborated with The Point of Care Foundation, who produced 10 recommendations for how this could be done.

View the recommendations
Student professionalism competition

Student professionalism competition

Each year we run a competition with the Medical Schools Council, asking medical students to explore a different area of our professionalism guidance, Achieving good medical practice. Find out more and see the previous winning entries.

Go to the competition page

Further reading

The guidance on this page is designed to help medical students achieve the standards expected in Good medical practice, and help medical schools implement the corresponding requirements set out in Promoting excellence.

Good medical practice
Good medical practice sets out the principles of good practice which all doctors must be familiar with. It is the foundation on which the rest of our guidance is built.
Promoting Excellence
This document sets out the standards for the delivery of medical education and training. These standards have patient safety, quality of care, and fairness at their heart.