More than a third of medical trainees have experienced or witnessed bullying, harassment or racism, according to new survey findings.
The 2023 Medical Training Survey of doctors in training showed strong participation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees with 176 responses, but critically the results also flagged an ongoing racial fault-line in Australia’s culture of medicine.
Dr Anne Tonkin, chair of the Medical Board of Australia which leads the MTS, said it was “totally unacceptable” that 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees experienced or witnessed bullying, harassment, discrimination, and racism.
“It is inexcusable that 35% of all trainees did,” Dr Tonkin said.
“The longitudinal MTS data makes clear that this area is yet to improve and shows a critical and urgent need for an ongoing commitment to building a culture of respect in medicine and medical training.
“Five years of legitimising trainees’ experience, through MTS questions about culture and behaviour, may in itself be encouraging doctors in training to speak up about these issues.”
Dr Tonkin said the data would help guide efforts to provide culturally safe and appropriate medical training, and more broadly, culturally safe healthcare.
The 2023 MTS results show that the quality of supervision, orientation, education and training and patient safety training has improved, while trainees reported that their workload and hours of work have reduced – with fewer now considering leaving the profession.
More than half of Australia’s doctors in training did the 2023 MTS, an annual profession-wide longitudinal survey that tracks the quality of medical training and while this year’s results are broadly consistent with previous years, there are some small but statistically significant variations.
“The upticks from last year’s results, although small, are statistically significant and encouraging,” Dr Tonkin said.
“There is nuance beneath the headline numbers and variation in the results across medical disciplines, jurisdictions, and health services, and year on year comparisons shine a light on where good things are happening and specific initiatives are making a difference.
“It also spotlights areas where focus and action are needed.”
Several new questions about flexible training and work options, included in this year’s survey, will help set a new baseline for future analysis, with initial results showing that while trainees received support from their specialist colleges, this support was not replicated in the workplace.
“Organisations across the health sector owe it to current doctors in training, and our future medical workforce, to harness the value of MTS data and use it to drive ongoing improvements in training that will keep our doctors among the best in the world,” Dr Tonkin said.
“With an established link between culture and patient safety, only collaboration between frontline organisations will enable lasting cultural change that will benefit doctors and patients.”