Paul McGurgan¹
1 University of Western Australia, Medical School 

Medical students have been described as being in professionalism's 'no man's land' (1); although university students, they are often trained within the health care environment, with similar professional obligations to qualified doctors (1). There is little information on what factors influence opinions on medical students' professional behaviours. If we do not know the factors influencing professionalism behaviours, it is difficult to remediate. 

Multi-centre, international, prospective, cross-sectional survey (UWA ethics approval). Three cohorts: Australia/NZ based medical students (n= 3171), qualified doctors (n=809) and public (n=503). Comparative and relational analysis. 

Findings: 

• Medical students report encountering a wide range of professionally challenging situations, and have varying opinions on acceptable professional behaviours (1).
 • Although medical students’ opinions on professional behaviours are influenced by their demography, the most significant factor influencing the acceptability towards a behaviour was whether the student reported encountering a similar professional dilemma. Students appear susceptible to normalising counter productive work behaviours, particularly those related to breaches of trust. 

• Students, doctors and the public often differ in their opinions on what determines acceptable professional behaviours- dilemmas related to patient safety appear to show a ‘professional identity effect’; students’ opinions align more with qualified doctors compared to the general public as they progress through the course; conversely for alcohol/substance misuse dilemmas, the students’ opinions suggest generational influences rather than health care cultural norms are the dominant influence (2,3). 

Discussion question(s) for participants:
 • Is Professional identity Formation universally positive? 

• By placing students in toxic work culture environments with poor role models, do we enable healthcare systems to perpetuate poor professional behaviour? 

References (maximum three) 

1. Medical students’ opinions on professional behaviours: The Professionalism of Medical Students’ (PoMS) study. McGurgan, P., Calvert, K. L., Narula, K., Celenza, A., Nathan, E. A. & Jorm, C., 3 Mar 2020, In: Medical Teacher. 42, 3, p. 340-350. 

2. Why Is Patient Safety a Challenge? Insights From the Professionalism Opinions of Medical Students' Research. McGurgan, P. M., Calvert, K. L., Nathan, E. A., Narula, K., Celenza, A. & Jorm, C., Oct 2022, In: Journal of Patient Safety. 18, 7, p. e1124-e1134. 

3. Opinions towards Medical Students’ Self-Care and Substance Use Dilemmas—A Future Concern despite a Positive Generational Effect? McGurgan, P., Calvert, K., Nathan, E., Celenza, A. & Jorm, C., Oct 2022, In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 19, 13289.