New Delhi | The National Medical Commission (NMC) on Monday issued guidelines on professional responsibilities of medical students, asking them not to indiscriminately post on social media regarding patients and patient-related information.
It also underlined the need for them to learn the local language so as to effectively communicate with patients and participate in community events.
Medical students are expected to dress modestly and appropriately in all their professional endeavours, it stated.
During their clinical training, medical students should politely introduce themselves to patients as students before eliciting medical history and examining patients while understanding that patients are not a means to an end, according to the guidelines.
The guidelines advocate medical students taking care of themselves and leading a healthy lifestyle and particularly avoiding alcohol, tobacco and other substances of abuse. Students are expected to seek treatment and counselling in case of substance abuse, it said.
Under the "responsibilities related to personal growth", the guidelines stated that students must be sensitive to a patient's needs and must maintain the confidentiality of medical information and at the same time be responsible to inform the treating team about the same to ensure proper management.
"They must be aware of their limitations and should avoid giving advice regarding treatment, or doing counselling without due instruction from their teachers," according to the guidelines issued by Dr Yogender Malik, member of the NMC's Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB).
The guidelines urged students to get involved in research during their MBBS course under the guidance of their teachers. They should be familiar with the ICMR guidelines that govern research.
The guidelines urged medical students not to indiscriminately post on social media regarding patients and patient-related information.
It underlined that students must be aware of the ever-expanding scope of social media with its usefulness as well as possible professional hazards associated with its indiscriminate use.
Students are expected to be honest and practise integrity during all examinations. Cheating in any form is a form of corruption that not only undermines the purpose of the examinations but also runs contradictory to what is expected of a medical student.
The guidelines highlighted that whenever possible, students should participate in health camps/ health awareness campaigns as learning at the level of communities is also an essential component of medical education.
During the community interactions, studGuidelines for teachersents encounter diversity in education, living standards, social support systems, access to basic amenities, health access and environmental conditions, etc. Such knowledge and experience is essential if students are to understand the social context when patients come to hospital and to be able to participate in health promotion and disease prevention activities in the community.
Under the "responsibilities towards society and national goals", the guidelines stated that medicine is a social and moral endeavour and so medical students are expected to dress modestly and appropriately in all their professional endeavours.
It encouraged medical students to organise regular environmental audits of the campus to identity the problem areas concerning the environment and initiate suitable programmes such as tree plantation, reduction of use of single use plastic, and judicious use of water.
Further, in keeping with the role of a citizen-doctor, students are encouraged to keep abreast of new health laws being discussed in Parliament or in a state.
According to the guidelines, students are expected to learn the local language so as to effectively communicate with patients during their studies, participate in community eventsGuidelines for teachersGuidelines for teachers related to health education, health promotion and prevention and assist in health services in situations like natural calamities, disasters, health emergencies etc. through proper channels and under supervision.
Sense of social service and nationalism should be integral part of medical education.
As far as support framework to ensure optimal functioning and growth of medical students is concerned, medical colleges should have atmosphere conducive for the medical students to achieve optimum personal and professional growth, it stated.
Medical colleges must ensure that adequate and appropriately trained faculties are available for the education of students according to the prescribed NMC standards.
They are required to ensure that students have adequate clinical exposure and are required to conduct all examinations and certifications as prescribed by the NMC with integrity and honesty.
"Cheating must be dealt with strict action. Colleges must not inflate internal assessment marks and students should expect a fair and impartial examination process. Medical colleges must ensure that ragging is banned and that strictest action is taken in the event of breaches," the guidelines stated.
In order to create awareness against tobacco, alcohol and substance abuse, institutes should run or support well-designed programmes like anti-addiction campaigns on campus and involve students in educating others through such drives at the community level.
New Delhi | Medical teachers should constantly demonstrate to students correct elements of the doctor-patient relationship, including soft skills of communication and respect for the dignity and rights of patients, according to guidelines issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC) on Monday.
Stating that bedside teaching is an integral part of the education and training of medical students, the guidelines said that teachers must ensure that students are sensitive to the patients' suffering and gentle during physical examination and do not see patients as a means to an end in medical teaching.
Teachers should model and impart soft skills and counselling skills to enable students to learn empathic communication skills and managing sensitive situations like breaking the news of death, according to the guidelines on "professional responsibilities of medical teachers" issued by Dr Yogender Malik, member of the NMC's Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB).
Teachers must teach the students to conduct bedside discussions in a sensitive manner that respects the dignity and rights of patients, and should emphasize the immense importance of correct and complete documentation to the students.
Teaching bedside clinical skills may be more useful in community setting so as to ensure early detection of diseases and their cost-effective management, the guidelines said.
It highlighted that teachers must be aware that they are the role models for students and are closely observed, analysed regarding their commitment, behaviour, knowledge and competence by the students who then choose to emulate them or dismiss what they see as undesirable traits.
In this context, teachers may thus be positive or negative role models.
So, teachers should demonstrate their own commitment and devotion to lifelong learning by constantly updating their own knowledge and skills, demonstrate empathy and compassion in their demeanour and dedication to welfare of patients, nursing staff and colleagues and maintain professionalism at all times during their interactions.
They must ensure that their behaviour and actions are ethical and inspiring at all times, and they fulfil their duties with utmost integrity and that they dress formally, modestly and neatly at the workplace.
The guidelines underlined that disciplinary action should be undertaken on a one-to-one basis and that teacher should avoid humiliating the students in front of their peers or public.
They must be unbiased and fair in their interactions with students and should not discriminate on the basis of region, religion, caste, gender, sexual orientation, language, socio-economic class, or any other factor.
According to the guidelines, teachers must be aware of the stress and mental health problems that students face and should be aware of the processes available in their institutions to address these issues.
Teachers must be aware that they teach a diverse student population. Measures should be taken to the best of their abilities to address the additional needs of high performers as well as needs of those students who may be finding difficulties with the course.
"Teachers must follow the conduct regulations with respect to their interactions with the pharmaceutical companies/their representatives as well as allied health sector. Teachers should ensure that a student is exposed to appropriate mix of common patient situations existing in community and withhold themselves from discussing rare situations only. Teachers must highlight the concept of 'family physician' in the care of the patients," the guidelines stated.
Teachers should make students aware on the medico-legal aspects of patient care, the guidelines said.
According to the guidelines, teachers should continually review, revise and update their teaching-learning materials to reflect advances and current understandings in their field and use wherever appropriate, newer available teaching-learning resources such as computer-aided learning strategies.
"Teachers must not plagiarise their teaching materials and should provide sources of their information wherever appropriate," it stated.
The guidelines stated that role of teacher while certifying a student is very crucial, therefore one must ensure 360-degree evaluation of students.
The examination must go beyond the final summative assessment and should include regular formative assessments with more emphasis on the latter.
Teachers must set assessments and examination papers keeping in mind the blueprints for examinations to achieve the purposeful goal of the curriculum as per CBME. They must ensure that question papers are kept confidential and that teaching is holistic and not only examination-centric, the guidelines said.