Intimidation
Conditions
Keywords
Intimidation, Simulation, Medical education, Surgical education
Brief summary
Intimidation of medical students by health care professionals is a well-documented phenomenon. Raising awareness of what constitutes intimidation is a preferred method for preventing it through increased reporting. Simulation is a novel method of raising awareness of intimidation. This is a randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of simulation (involving actors), an educational video and no intervention, as adjuncts to group discussion, on students' ability to identify and report intimidation. Medical students from the University of Montreal in Montreal, Canada, will be recruited at the beginning of surgical clerkship. They will complete a standardized and validated pre-intervention questionnaire on their experience with intimidation consisting of multiple choice questions and short answers. They will be randomised to one of the three interventions lasting 70 minutes that will be followed by a 20-minute standardized discussion on intimidation with all students participating together. At the end of their surgical rotation, they will complete a similar post-intervention questionnaire with additional questions pertaining to the reporting of intimidation. Differences in intimidation reporting after the intervention as well as a before and after comparison of the Negative Acts Questionnaire score will be studied.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALControl group
No intervention. The students suture for 70 minutes
BEHAVIORALSimulation
Students witness the intimidation of one of their peers (who is an actor) by a professor (also an actor). (see arm description)
BEHAVIORALVideo
Student watch a 15-minute intimidation video (see arm description).
Sponsors
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
Students cannot be masked as an arm undergoes a simulation intervention. The researcher evaluating the outcomes through the questionnaires will be blinded.
Intervention model description
Single-blind randomised controlled trial with two experimental arms and a control arm
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Medical students at the University of Montreal at the beginning of their surgical clerkship rotation.
Exclusion criteria
\-
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Comfort in reporting intimidation | 6 weeks after enrollment | Based on post-intervention questionnaire question. |
| Perception of intimidation after intervention | 6 weeks after enrollment | Based on post-intervention Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ-R) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline prevalence of intimidation | at enrollment | Based on pre-intervention Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ-R) |
| Before and after comparison | at enrollment vs 6 weeks post-intervention | Difference between pre and post-intervention Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ-R) |
| Reasons for not reporting intimidation | at enrollment | Open-ended question asking why students don't report intimidation |
| Frequency of intimidation reporting | 6 weeks post-intervention | Did the students report intimidation during the 6 weeks of their surgical clerkship? |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed