Abstract:
Mistreatment of medical students has long been a challenge in medical schools of various
countries. However, studies assessing the prevalence and its effects on students' perceptions of
their professional development are scant in Ethiopia. Thus, this study is an attempt to contribute
empirical evidence to fill this gap. Specifically, the paper probes the prevalence of exposure to
mistreatment among intern medical students at St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and
secondary source. The data collected were analyzed and discussed using several descriptive
statistics. The survey result revealed the presence of different types of mistreatment, which fairly
varies between male and female students. The most important ones were yelling or shouting that
is offensive, harsh, or insulting speech on both male and female students and some sort of sexual
harassment in only female students. Threat to unfair grade and giving some kind of negative or
disparaging remarks are also types of mistreatments (closer to often) perceived and reported by
students. The paper also find evidence that nurses and residents were most important source of
mistreatment in the learning environment. However, the reasons for such unprofessional
conducts were not very clear to most of them. The perceived effect of one or more types of
mistreatments were also analyzed and the result shows that medical students who experience
mistreatment are found to have hurtful outcomes on their emotional security and professional
attitudes. Specifically, many students indicated to sometimes feel a sense of regret in choice of
career or lack of satisfaction their educational experience, hating the health environment and
depression and low self-confidence. Such feelings of distress during intern status of studies could
exacerbate the compromising quality of potential physicians and health care system. Qualitative
analysis of data was also highly consistent with the above findings and used for triangulation
purpose. The study concludes by highlighting some short- and long-term recommendations that
can help the school develop policies and eradicate the widespread and complex mistreatment
phenomenon.