Irresponsible in med school—in trouble as a doctor

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="95%" height="1"> <tr> <center> <td valign="top" width="33%" height="33"> <b> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="5">Irresponsible in med school—in trouble as a doctor</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"></b><font size="1" face="Arial">Dec. 21</font><font face="Arial"><font size="1">, 2005<br> Courtesy the University of California, San Francisco<br> and World Science staff<br> </font> <b> <br> </b></font><b><font face="Arial" size="2">Doctors who had records of irresponsible behavior as medical students, got in trouble more often than their peers did for alleged misconduct, a study has found.</font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <p> <font size="2" face="Arial"> <b>Researchers studied records of 235 doctors who had been penalized by their state medical boards for alleged negligence, use of drugs or alcohol, unprofessional conduct or criminal convictions. </b></font> <p> <font size="2" face="Arial"> <b> These physicians were three times more likely than others to have shown “unprofessional behavior” while in medical school, the researchers found. <br> <br> The researchers counted a range of activities as unprofessional behaviors during the school years. Among these, the worst risk factors for later disciplinary actions were irresponsibility in attendance or patient care, the researchers found. Students with records of such problems were nearly nine times more likely than their colleagues to be disciplined as practicing doctors. <br> <br> The study, by Maxine A. Papadakis of the University of San California, San Francisco, and colleagues, is published in the December 22 issue of the <i> New England Journal of Medicine</i>. <br> <br> Unprofessional behavior in medical school was a stronger risk factor for later disciplinary action by state boards than more traditional measures of academic success, such as performance on the admission tests and early medical school grades, the researchers found. <br> <br> Papadakis said the study doesn’t predict the future behavior of current medical school student, but “we have at least established a risk factor for disciplinary action against practicing physicians.” <br> <br> This is the first national study linking medical school performance with later disciplinary action, and therefore with a potential threat to patient safety, Papadakis said. “These data support the growing movement to make the demonstration of professional behavior a requirement for graduation from medical school in the United States,” she said. <br> <br> The study included 235 graduates since 1970 of three medical schools – University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine; University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor; and Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia – who were disciplined by one of 40 state medical boards between 1990 and 2003. They were compared with 469 control physicians of the same medical schools and graduation years. <br> <br> “Professionalism can and must be taught in medical school,” wrote the study authors. <br> <br> “We want to identify people who have trouble in this domain as early as possible,” Papadakis added. “We all grow up, and most of us become more professional as we mature. However, for the rare student who cannot demonstrate professional behavior, we need to think long and hard about whether he or she should graduate from medical school.”</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b> * * * </p> </b> <p><b><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Send us a <a href="mailto:editor@world-science.net">comment</a> on this story, or <a href="mailto:?Body=http://www.world-science.net/othernews/051221_miscondfrm.htm">send it to a friend</a></font></b> </p> <p>  </p> </center> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </body>