Medical students help each other through peer counselling
No-one understands the stress of being a medical student better than another medical student. And that's why medical students at Memorial University of Newfoundland set up a peer counselling program three years ago to help each other.
The idea for the peer
counselling program started with the students themselves. Valerie Taylor was in second
year and Lawrence Hookey in third year when they took on the job of organization. "We
wanted something substantial and professional," explained Ms. Taylor. "So we
contacted the Counselling Centre at Memorial and they sent over people to train us."
Drs. Michael Doyle and Peter Cornish of the University Counselling Centre were pleased to help the medical students. "We were already involved in seminars with first-year medical students to help them practice interviewing skills with simulated patients, as well as helping to facilitate resident training in interviewing skills," said Dr. Doyle. "In helping to organize the Peer Helper Program we worked with the students to identify the actual reasons for their program, their intentions and goals, ethical considerations and related issues."
The actual training focused on confidentiality, informal contact, conflict regarding role confusion, suicidal ideation and responding to crisis. The counsellors developed training seminars to expose the medical student volunteers to communication skills and through role playing they learned to handle difficult situations and conflict of interest situations. "We also looked at the notion of potentially strained relationships between medical school friends evolving into peer helpers," said Dr. Doyle.
As peer helpers, the student volunteers learned how and where to refer students who required additional help, and also to identify suicide risk factors.
The students who originally started the program have moved on in their careers, but new volunteers have been recruited. Although it is not known how extensively the program is used, Ms. Taylor said she personally counselled about five students, and she feels it is worthwhile.
"It's better to talk to someone who understands," said Ms. Taylor, who plans to pursue a residency in psychiatry. "Some stresses are unique to medicine, particularly the amount of work and the time commitment. It can help to talk to someone who has been there."
Dr. Cornish said that it is difficult to assess the usage of the peer helper network due to the informal natural of peer relationships. "Peers are sometimes unable to determine wwhether other students are approaching them in their role as peers or as formal peer helpers."
There has been a great deal of interest in Memorial's Peer Counselling Program for medical students. Ms. Taylor has been contacted by other schools of medicine in Canada for information on the program, and Drs. Doyle and Cornish presented a poster at the 1998 American College Personnel Association in St. Louis, Missouri, detailing the program. An information packet is being developed to provide other interested schools with the means of getting their own programs started.
Interest in training for the peer helper program continues to be very high among Memorial's medical students. Since Valerie Taylor and Lawrence Hookey initiated the program, there have been two subsequent groups trained.
Valerie Taylor can be contacted at vtaylor@plato.ucs.mun.ca
This year's organizer, Mark Norris, can be contacted at mnorris@plato.ucs.mun.ca
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