Resumen

MOREIRA, Simone da Nóbrega Tomaz; VASCONCELLOS, Rafael Luiz dos Santos Silva  y  HEATH, Nancy. Stress in Medical Education: How to Face This Reality?. Rev. Bras. Educ. Med. [online]. 2015, vol.39, n.4, pp.558-564. ISSN 1981-5271.  https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-52712015v39n4e03072014.

When undergraduate students enter medical school they feel euphoric and fulfilled. However, challenges related to academic development may cause feelings of stress and torment, which compromises students’ wellbeing. This study is aimed at exploring the main causes of stress on medical training, and strategies of facing it used by the medical students of the University of Montreal, Canada. This is an exploratory approach, using a qualitative methodology through a semi-structured survey. Eighteen medical students from first to fourth-year were examined. The major stressing events cited by the students were the following: difficulty in reconciling academic work and personal life, performance exams, interaction with teachers and residents, relationship with patients, as well as the fact of living far from their hometown. In order to face these events, medical students develop adaptive and some non-adaptive strategies. Among the adaptive strategies, students mentioned: expressing their negative feelings, psychological support, leisure activities and spiritual support. As far as the non-adaptive answers are concerned, negative feelings were observed, such as distress and sorrow, denial of reality, alcohol use and recreational drug use. In this context, university authorities must review this situation, in such a way as to provide institutional strategies capable of promoting the recognition of their students’ emotional demands. Students could then take better care of the psychosocial aspects of their patients.

Palabras clave : Medical Student; Stress; Medical Education.

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