Working Group of Medical Students visit Siraj Hospital Mahidol University Medical School
WPA Congress 2022 at Bangkok Thailand
Working Group of Medical Students
visit Siraj Hospital Mahidol
University Medical School
Medical education & training can directly contribute to
development of psychological distress in medical students
Various strategies to address burnout
and improve wellbeing discussed
From Prof . Nazish Imran
BANGKOK: The 22nd World Congress of Psychiartry (WCP), organised by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), took place on 3-6 August 2022 in the beautiful and historical city of Bangkok, Thailand and online. As part of the Congress, WPA Working group on Medical students organized a visit to Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital Mahidol University Medical school , the oldest medical institution in Thailand to engage and have an interactive workshop with medical students focusing on their well-being and burnout and to promote psychiatry.
Dr. Khalid Bazaid (Canada), Professor Waqar Azeem, Chair, WPA working group on medical
students (Sidra Qatar),Prof. Howard Liu (USA), Prof. Dr Nazish Imran (Pakistan) and
Prof. Bernardo Ng (SanDiego) photographed during World Congress of Psychiatry.
Prof Manee Rattanachaiyanont (Deputy Dean & Director of Siriraj Medical School), Associate Professor Rungnirand Praditsuwan (Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Education) Asst Professor Rattapon Thuangtong (Deputy Dean of student Affairs and Associate Professor Sudsabuy Chulakadabba (Head of Department of Psychiatry) were present during the visit and welcomed the WPA team. Ms Wachariya and Dr Kamonporn were the main organizers for the visit.
WPA Working group on Medical students organized a visit to Faculty of Medicine
Siriraj Hospi-tal Mahidol University Medical School, the oldest medical institution in Thailand.
Group photo-graph taken on the occasion shows the visitor’s alongwith the faculty.
Prof. Waqar Azeem, Chair, WPA working group on medical students from Sidra Medicine Qatar, introduced the WPA working group on medical students to the audience and highlighted some of the achievements of group since its inception. He mentioned developing recommendations for WPA’s involvement in research, education, and service development relevant to medical students along with supporting medical students around the globe as main tasks of the group.
Photographed at the World Psychiatric Association conference at Bangkok Thailand
from (L to R) are Dr. Afzal Jawaid President WPA,Prof. Nazish Imran, Dr. and Prof. Ghulam Rasul.
Prof.Bernardo Ng, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, and University of California San Diego showed the video made by the group on “Why Psychiatry” for promoting psychiatry as a career among medical students. Professor Dr Nazish Imran(Pakistan) & Dr. Khalid Bazaid (Canada) introduced the Modules being developed for WPA education portal by involving medical students and displayed the module on Medical student well-being which is already available on the portal.
Prof. Waqar Azeem and Prof. Nazish Imran conducting students training session during the
WPA Conferenceheld at Bangkok, Thailand organized by WPA Working group on Medical students.
Prof. Howard Liu (USA) led the interactive workshop on Burnout with other team members. Burnout is a prominent force challenging medical students’ well-being, with concerning implications for the continuation of burnout into residency and beyond. To address this highly prevalent condition, educators must first develop greater awareness and understanding of burnout, as well as of the factors that lead to its development. Students in small groups talked about the fact that medical education and training can directly contribute to the development of psychological distress in medical students. This can lead to catastrophic consequences such as impaired academic performance, impaired competency, medical errors and attrition from medical school. They also shared that commonly reported stressors at this stage include academic pressure, relationship difficulties with supervising consultants, too much or too little responsibility at placement, exposure to patients’ distress, terminal illness, and death, compromised sleep patterns and the pressure of developing a professional persona. Some of these pressures are self-imposed, such as setting the bar too high to reach, self-doubt, and equating performance to identity. It was also pointed out by students that although the medical students experience high levels of mental distress during training but are less likely, than other students, to access care due to stigma and concerns regarding career progression. Various strategies to address burnout and improve wellbeing were also discussed.
WPA Working group on Medical students organized training session for medical students during the World Psychiatric Association conference held at Bangkok, Thailand re-cently. Picture taken on the occasion shows
the session in progress.
The session remained very engaging and received very good feedback from the participants with need identified for such training sessions to be held regularly. In the end, the WPA working group chair and co-chair thanked the organizers for the warm welcome, excellent arrangement and environment and opportunity to engage with faculty and students in the institution.