Medicus April 2016
C O V E R S T O R Y
MULTI-FACETED APPROACH NEEDED TO TACKLE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
Professor Shirley Bowen Dean, School of Medicine Fremantle University of Notre Dame Australia
Associate Professor Angela Alessandri Lead, Positive Workplace Behaviours Initiative School of Medicine Fremantle University of Notre Dame Australia
T he AMA Survey highlights the size of the sexual have experienced sexual harassment at some point in their medical training or career is concerning. A total of 181 respondents (or 20 per cent of those responding to the question) had experienced sexual harassment in the past five years. This represents 8.5 per cent of males and 27.8 per cent of females. These figures are shown in context in the table below where they can be compared to figures from the general Australian population and the Australian Defence Force (Australian Human Rights Commission data). Table 1: Experience of Sexual Harassment in the last five years harassment issue in the Western Australian medical workforce. The fact that 31 per cent of 913 respondents Of those experiencing harassment in the last five years, 80 per cent were female. Overall, 14 per cent (or 124) respondents were medical students. Only 17 (<2 per cent) of respondents identified the School of Medicine Fremantle UNDA as their place of work or study. Given the small number of potential Notre Dame medical students, it is not possible to make any reliable conclusions from the analysis of questions by place of work/study. It is readily acknowledged that sexual harassment information and training can be improved at Notre Dame for both staff and students. Further work is also required on the structures to assist students in particular in reporting sexual and other harassment during both their pre-clinical and clinical training. In response to the media and professional concerns regarding harassment in general in the medical workplace, Notre Dame undertook a survey of its third year students concerning their experiences in the clinical setting in late 2015. While there is Male (%) Female (%) AMA (WA) Survey 8.5 27.8 Australian Population 16.2 25.3 Australian Defence Force 10.5 25.9
relatively comprehensive international data on the experience of sexual and other harassment in national and international literature, there is a paucity of information on medical students’ experience of broader workplace behaviours exhibited by senior medical staff. This is important as such behaviours form the basis of the ‘hidden curriculum’ in medicine and influence students’ future professional behaviour. The survey received ethics approval from the UND Human Research Ethics Committee. It consisted of 22 questions in total with a five-point Likert scale response and will be formally published later this year. A total of 57 of a possible 84 third year students completed the Professionalism Survey in October of 2015 (response rate 68 per cent). Several aspects of senior medical staff behaviour were considered and the data revealed that students observed a variety of behaviours but suggest that
Selected results from the Professionalism Survey, School of Medicine Fremantle, UNDA
30
30
20
20
Frequency
10 Frequency
10
0
0
2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00 5.50
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
Senior medical staff treated junior staff with respect Often Always Sometimes
Senior medical staff exhibited aggressive and/or bullying behaviour Never Rarely Often Sometimes
30
30
20
20
10
Frequency
Frequency
10
0
0
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
Never 1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
Medical students were subjected to innapropriate behaviour from senior staff Never Rarely Often Sometimes
Medical students contribution was appreciated by senior ward staff Rarely Often Sometimes
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