Psychological Screening of Medical Students

Abstract

It is perhaps appealing to those concerned with physician misconduct to think that selection of entrants to medical school which included psychological testing would identify at-risk candidates who suffer psychological or psychiatric impairments and therefore could be excluded from training. The treatment of psychoses is fraught with adverse side effects which limit the effectiveness of graduates so afflicted.

However psychologically impaired physicians who commit boundary violations are not normally psychotic and more commonly are suffering from one of several personality disorders such as psychopathy or narcissistic personality disorders. With modern psychological treatment strategies including cognitive behavioural therapy many of these conditions can be successfully treated.

Excluding students with mental disabilities might have negative consequences as those students  otherwise could bring to the profession greater empathy, understanding, and innovative care to fellow sufferers. The UK and Australian medical schools do not pretest applicants for psychological or psychiatric illness but manage disabled students once declared  by adjusting schedules for teaching and assessments without compromising  academic integrity. Failure to meet those goals in spite of university concessions can still prevent some disabled students from graduating.

Read the full paper here - Psych Screening of Med Students_JLM 31 Nov 2024.pdf