Struggle at medical school increases risk of GMC trouble

24 May 2010

MALE doctors from poorer backgrounds who struggle at medical school are more likely to get in trouble with the GMC later in their career.

New research published by bmj.com showed these doctors faced the highest risk of professional misconduct allegations. Researchers compared the applications and medical school progress of 59 GMC misconduct cases with 236 people who had not been referred to the GMC. The study was fully anonymised study with 69 per cent of participants having qualified between 1968 and 1987.

The results show that GMC misconduct cases are more likely to involve men from lower social class groups who have failed exams, repeated parts of their courses or had a lower overall performance than their peers. Misconduct cases were also less likely to involve consultants or registered GPs.

David James, Foundation Director of Medical Education at the University of Nottingham Medical School, said: “This small preliminary study provides the first evidence in the UK that male students and those who perform poorly in the early years of the course might be at slightly increased risk of subsequent professional misconduct. Lower social class background (as estimated from the father’s occupation at course entry) was also an independent risk factor in this retrospective study.”

He stressed that students from poorer backgrounds should not be viewed negatively because of the study, saying the "absolute risk" for an individual from any background is small.

Read the BMJ study here