Patient Information about Undergraduate Medical Education

What is medical education?

Undergraduate Medical education is the training of medical students. It takes 4 -5 years and the students who pass will become doctors. This is not the end of their training however, as they will then undertake a number of years (at least 5) of further (post-graduate) training as junior doctors at the end of which they will become GPs, Specialist Doctors or Consultants.

At Barts and the London School of Medicine, students have two years of pre-clinical learning (basic sciences and case studies) followed by three years of clinical training (learning with patients).

The purpose of clinical training is for medical students to:

•    meet patients and learn how to interact with them with empathy and kindness
•    appreciate the emotional and real-life consequences of their illnesses
•    learn how to take a history and examine patients
•    understand their illnesses, how they present and respond to treatment

Most medical students in psychiatry are in their 4th year of medical school. This is their 2nd year of clinical education which means education involving learning from and with patients.

Students are still learning so won’t know everything a doctor will know. They will need to ask you difficult questions at times and sometimes you will be able to help them by sharing your experience of different ways that you have heard these questions asked in the past.

In psychiatry, medical students are asked to undertake a number of tasks including:

•    A clinical assessment task under supervision of their consultant (e.g. taking a history from a patient)
•    Presenting 5 case studies
•    Writing 2 prescriptions correctly (in their log books)
•    Attending 5 clinical teaching sessions with the team consultant or another designated doctor
•    Writing an end of placement reflection

In addition, they spend time shadowing members of the Multidisciplinary Team, understanding their roles, how they contribute to your care and how the team works together.

Students may ask about things in more depth than your regular doctor. This is because they are trying to understand all aspects of your life and care to give them context for their learning.

As you know, your patient notes and the information you share with your doctor are confidential. This means that the information is shared with the team looking after you but not beyond that without your consent.

Occasionally patients share information which suggests there is a risk to you or another individual and in these instances your team may be legally required to share this with other services (for example the police or social services) or individuals. Usually, this will be discussed with you before the information is shared. Any information shared outside the team would be limited to that necessary to ensure your or other people’s safety.

When you see a medical student, they will follow the same policies around confidentiality: they will not share information outside of the team looking after you; any record they keep will not contain information that would make you identifiable; any paper notes they make will be disposed of in the confidential waste. These are called the Caldicott principles. If you would like to know more about this you can follow this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-caldicott-principles

Yes! Please don’t feel bad if you say no or if you need to stop a session with a student. Or you may simply wish to ask them to come back later.

Sometimes you may be feeling too vulnerable to have extra people present in medical consultations, sometimes you may feel you can’t be fully open with others there or you may want to discuss something too personal.

Sometimes you may feel rushed to give an answer. If you have any doubts you can ask to have some time to think or suggest that you don’t have a student present at this time. You can always change your mind once you’ve had more time to think.

The students do not want to upset you or make you feel uncomfortable and if something is difficult for you, do let them know and you can stop or take a break.

Your care and health are the most important consideration – it is always okay to say no if you would rather not have a student involved in your care and treatment.