PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS IN MEDICAL-STUDENTS - A COMPARISON OF 2 VERY DIFFERENT UNIVERSITY COURSES

This study compared the psychological morbidity of medical students in their first year of medical training at two different medical schools . One medical school had a 5-year course: 2 years intensive preclinica l training followed by 3 years clinical work. The second medical schoo l had a 6-year course: a 3-year degree course in basic medical science s followed by 3 years clinical work, Students on both courses were ask ed to complete the General Health Questionnaire, the Stress Incident R ecord and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The students on the first cou rse reported significantly higher amounts of stress related to course work than the students on the second course (chi(2) = 24.4, df = 1, p < 0.001), but there was no difference in the prevalence of psychologic al morbidity between the students on the two courses (z = -1.377, p = 0.168). Psychological morbidity was most closely associated with thoug hts of dropping out, stressful relationships with other medical studen ts and stress related to dissection. The findings suggest that medical students have high rates of psychological disturbance during the firs t year of their training, which are not explained by marked difference s in the type of training they receive. Reduction in psychological mor bidity may be best achieved by targeting those students who are report ing psychological distress or thinking of dropping out. (C) 1997 by Jo hn Wiley Br Sons, Ltd.