MEDICAL STUDENT SYNDROME; THE AFFLICTION IN MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to find out the prevalence of Medical Student Syndrome (MSS) in Pakistan and its association with age, maturity level and the degree of medical knowledge. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The survey was completed in one year, from Jul 2016 to Jul 2017 Material and Methods: A self-designed, self-explanatory questionnaire was used. The link of the questionnaire was disseminated electronically. The data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-22) Results: Total 129 responses were received from the students of different medical colleges/universities of Pakistan. Mean age of the participants was 21.94 years. Among the respondents 43% were males while 57% were females. Maximum participants were from final year. Majority of the respondents that is about 81% reported they had symptoms of the diseases they study, yet 44% pursued and moved forward. Among them 28% of the respondents said that they investigated their felt symptoms further, of which maximum were from 3rd year. Only 43% of the students knew about the Medical Student Syndrome. Some of the respondents, about 22.8% admitted the fact that they used psychiatric medicines either for relaxing or sleep. Conclusion: It can be concluded that medical students are more vulnerable to conditions like Medical student syndrome so there is a need to counsel medical students about the symptoms of MSS as well as to support the students by discussing different techniques to subsist the stress level.

Keywords

• health anxiety
• hypochondriasis
• medical student’s disease
• medical student syndrome