Preparing final-year students for medical emergencies

摘要

What problems were addressed? The metamorphosis of medical students into junior doctors is a significant one associated with a grand change in role and responsibility. The General Medical Council (GMC) report How Prepared are Medical Graduates to Begin Practice? highlighted the finding that, upon graduation, medical students felt prepared in terms of their clinical and communication skills, but were apprehensive about their abilities to cope with on-call responsibilities, especially in managing acutely unwell patients. These concerns stemmed from a belief that, as medical students, they had been given limited exposure to the assessment and management of acutely unwell patients.1 Addressing this deficiency in confidence is difficult within the confines of ward-based medical education. The need to provide medical students with a suitable level of exposure must be balanced with the obligation not to compromise patient safety.