Research has shown that medical students appear to have a higher incidence of stress-related problems than the general population.1,2 Precipitating factors include time pressure, academic demands, life and death issues, perfectionism and competitiveness.3 Other common welfare problems include poor attendance, physical and psychological illness, examination failure, and financial or accommodation issues.
Evidence and instinct indicate that identifying problems early should allow for effective pastoral help, and when necessary a remedial study plan.3 Ideally, each student should see a trained pastoral tutor regularly, who would get to know individual students well and detect and resolve pastoral and academic problems. Resources, however, are always restricted, and the Royal Free and University College Medical School (RFUCMS) in London has 2,400 students in its care. We try to treat all our students as individuals, but with such large numbers each year, it is a constant battle to stop them feeling more like bar code numbers than people.
We have therefore developed, and continue to evolve, a system that combines good pastoral care with efficient use of manpower. This article describes the welfare network at RFUCMS – providing a brief description of the common problems encountered, the local welfare systems available and some areas of work for the future.