Bernstein Robyn, Cox Kasey, Collins Claire, Changolkar Sujatha, Brower Kirk, McKean Erin
Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Western Michigan University School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, MI, USA.
Acad Psychiatry. 2025 Sep 4. doi: 10.1007/s40596-025-02193-9.
Mental health and burnout are major concerns among medical students, yet poor utilization of care persists. Barriers to care for medical students were identified in a previous study. Following this, a no-cost, confidential Medical Student Mental Health Program (MSMHP) was established to address common barriers to care. This study provides an analysis 1 year following the implementation of the MSMHP as well as a comparison to student attitudes and service utilization with the pre-implementation survey.
In early 2023, a survey eliciting information regarding student burnout, barriers to care, and resource utilization and satisfaction was sent to 780 current medical students. Participation was anonymous and voluntary, with optional responses to each question.
Ultimately, 387 (50%) medical students responded. Burnout remained at similar levels between years (2020, 2.60; 2023, 2.59), as well as students reporting either a new or previously perceived mental health concern (2020, 67%; 2023, 65%). Satisfaction with the availability of mental health resources for medical students significantly increased since MSMHP implementation; 74% were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied in 2023, compared with 39% in 2020. While we found that the program addressed the barrier of access, barriers of stigma, time, fear of future disclosure, and cost remained.
This study demonstrated that following the implementation of a MSMHP, a greater proportion of medical students obtained mental health care. Despite this, student burnout and concern over mental health and emotional well-being remained high. This may be explained by persistent systemic issues and barriers to care within the medical school experience.
心理健康和职业倦怠是医学生的主要担忧，但医疗服务的利用率仍然很低。此前的一项研究确定了医学生获得医疗服务的障碍。在此之后，设立了一个免费的、保密的医学生心理健康项目（MSMHP），以解决常见的医疗服务障碍。本研究对MSMHP实施一年后进行了分析，并与实施前调查中的学生态度和服务利用率进行了比较。
2023年初，向780名在读医学生发送了一份调查问卷，询问有关学生职业倦怠、医疗服务障碍、资源利用和满意度的信息。参与是匿名和自愿的，每个问题都有可选答案。
最终，387名（50%）医学生做出了回应。不同年份之间的职业倦怠水平保持相似（2020年为2.60；2023年为2.59），报告有新的或之前察觉到的心理健康问题的学生比例也相似（2020年为67%；2023年为65%）。自MSMHP实施以来，医学生对心理健康资源可用性的满意度显著提高；2023年有74%的学生“非常”或“有点”满意，而2020年这一比例为39%。虽然我们发现该项目解决了就医障碍，但耻辱感、时间、对未来披露的担忧和成本等障碍仍然存在。
本研究表明，在实施MSMHP之后，有更大比例的医学生获得了心理健康护理。尽管如此，学生的职业倦怠以及对心理健康和情绪健康的担忧仍然很高。这可能是由于医学院经历中持续存在的系统性问题和医疗服务障碍所致。
