The 2024 Medical Training Survey has revealed systemic and cultural issues persist, as “an unacceptably high number of doctors in training” continue to experience racism and sexual harassment in their workplaces, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says.
The 2024 survey, completed by nearly 25,000 medical trainees including 52 training under RANZCO, showed 33% of trainees had experienced and/or witnessed bullying, discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and/ or racism.
This figure spiked to 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees.
For ophthalmology trainees, the number was 26%.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said these results were disappointing and unacceptable.
“This survey should be a major wake-up call to tackle the systemic issues that impact the training experience and wellbeing of doctors in training,” Dr McMullen said.
“We are disappointed doctors in training are still experiencing racism and sexual harassment, and we are particularly alarmed that 19% of all doctors in training are considering a career outside of medicine.
“Doctors in training are the future of our profession and we must ensure their training experiences are valuable and enjoyable so we do not lose their talent to other professions.”
AMA Council of Doctors in Training chair Dr Sanjay Hettige said the culture of medicine must improve to create safe training and work settings for doctors.
“It is appalling to see in this survey that 38% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees experienced or witnessed racism – more than double the rate of non-Indigenous colleagues,” Dr Hettige said.
“While our medical training system continues to perform well in terms of education and a variety of other areas, there is still a long way to go to address some of these systemic and cultural issues.”
The Medical Training Survey also showed trainees were dissatisfied with the quality of examination feedback.
The AMA calls on medical colleges to work with doctors in training to ensure exam feedback is timely, relevant and helpful.
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