MAGNITUDE OF ASSOCIATED DISTRESS WITH BULLYING AND HARASSMENT AMONG MEDICAL TRAINEES

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment that has been common worldwide with relatively high magnitude in schools and workplace. The adverse effects of bullying may lead to decreased social functioning, poor clinical performance and attendance ultimately low standardized results among medical trainees. Therefore this study aims to investigate the rate of bullying in medical trainees in order to analyze the adverse consequences affecting their health and well-being. METHODOLOGY The cross-sectional survey was conducted on medical trainees/house officers of MBBS and BDS who had completed at least 6 months of training in primary or tertiary care hospitals, recruited through the non-probability sampling technique. The data was collected through self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS A total of 70 participants filled the questionnaires including 8 males and 62 females. It was concluded that 70% participants faced bullying and 21.4% to 30% reported moderate to severe distress. CONCLUSION It was concluded that majority of medical trainees bullied during training while majority fails to report the issue. The act bullying or harassment was performed by senior staff and outsiders that lead to severe distress among students therefore crucial steps should be taken to address the situation for better physical and mental well-being.