Developing good practice by understanding how UK medical schools address low level concerns: a survey study

Figures & data

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Table 1. Facilitators and barriers for identifying concerns in a timely manner

Facilitators

Barriers

Have a ‘go-to’ person for concerns who is visible across the medical school and placement providers The process is not just about identifying concerns, but support mechanisms need to be in place to ensure students can develop and improve. A raising concerns process needs to have features that enable students to feel the staff are approachable so underlying health or welfare issues can be elicited. In some schools, PBL/small group tutors and GP tutors were identified more than once as better placed to pick up non health related concerns which are harder to identify; due to the how these workplaces are structured. On the other hand, hospitals where students are moving to different teams with short turnarounds were identified as places where concerns are hard to pick up on.

Clinical leads may not always understand the importance and reason for low threshold and timeliness of concerns The large number of students spread over several trusts means implementing a process that is reliable can be a challenge A process that is heavily reliant on the students coming forward is unreliable. Sensitivity of the process can be improved. There is a grey area where concerns could fall where it’s hard to differentiate between minor and major concerns; and separating academic/progress concerns from professionalism issues Level of Staffing Support from leadership so concerns are managed centrally and off site staff are given specific instructions about reporting, so their reporting is low threshold