The role of medical students in junior doctors’ strikes: a cross-sectional online survey
File(s)
Author(s)
Okechukwu, Hannah
Novintan, Shonnelly
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objectives:
The British Medical Association announced a successful vote towards industrial action to achieve ‘pay restoration’ on 24 February 2023; with 9 walkout periods occurring in the following months. 1,2 During industrial action, concerns arose about the role medical students would play and the pressure placed upon them to ‘act up’.3 The objective of this study was to assess the guidance issued by medical schools and local placement sites during industrial action.
Design, setting and participants:
This cross-sectional study collected online survey data between 7 March 2023 and 7 April 2023 from medical students across England.
Main outcome measures:
Reports about guidance issued by medical schools and hospital placements.
Results:
62% of the medical schools issued guidance stating they were not cancelling clinical placements; of these, 10% said attendance was a personal choice. 17% of medical schools cancelled all clinical placements and 7% did not issue guidance. 52% of medical schools monitored attendance on strike days.
1 medical school and 3 clinical placement sites advertised paid work for students during the industrial action.
Conclusion:
The impact industrial action has on medical students has not been examined. Our results show mixed guidance from medical schools that can contradict local placement guidance.4 This lack of guidance is mirrored in the existing, yet limited, literature.5,6 If students feel pressured to perform tasks outside their remit, it can have consequences for patient safety and their future careers. For the safeguarding of students and patients, further work is needed to produce standardised guidance during industrial action.
The British Medical Association announced a successful vote towards industrial action to achieve ‘pay restoration’ on 24 February 2023; with 9 walkout periods occurring in the following months. 1,2 During industrial action, concerns arose about the role medical students would play and the pressure placed upon them to ‘act up’.3 The objective of this study was to assess the guidance issued by medical schools and local placement sites during industrial action.
Design, setting and participants:
This cross-sectional study collected online survey data between 7 March 2023 and 7 April 2023 from medical students across England.
Main outcome measures:
Reports about guidance issued by medical schools and hospital placements.
Results:
62% of the medical schools issued guidance stating they were not cancelling clinical placements; of these, 10% said attendance was a personal choice. 17% of medical schools cancelled all clinical placements and 7% did not issue guidance. 52% of medical schools monitored attendance on strike days.
1 medical school and 3 clinical placement sites advertised paid work for students during the industrial action.
Conclusion:
The impact industrial action has on medical students has not been examined. Our results show mixed guidance from medical schools that can contradict local placement guidance.4 This lack of guidance is mirrored in the existing, yet limited, literature.5,6 If students feel pressured to perform tasks outside their remit, it can have consequences for patient safety and their future careers. For the safeguarding of students and patients, further work is needed to produce standardised guidance during industrial action.
Date Issued
2024-08-01
Date Acceptance
2024-03-27
Citation
MedEdPublish, 2024, 14
ISSN
2312-7996
Publisher
F1000 Research Ltd
Journal / Book Title
MedEdPublish
Volume
14
Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2024 Novintan S and Okechukwu H. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://mededpublish.org/articles/14-60
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
60
Date Publish Online
2024-08-01