‘Achieving Good Medical Practice - Guidance for Medical Students’
Official GMC guidelines:
https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/standards-guidance-and-curricula/guidance/student-pr
ofessionalism-and-ftp/achieving-good-medical-practice
● As a medical student, you are preparing to enter a respected and trusted
profession one that involves close interaction with patients and the public. You
are expected to consistently uphold high standards of conduct that reflect the
trust placed in you as a future healthcare professional.
● This guideline sets out the standards of behaviour expected of you both within
and beyond the medical school environment. It illustrates how the core principles
and values of good medical practice are relevant to your role as a student.
The duties of a doctor registered with the GMC
● Knowledge, skills and performance: patient care should be first concern and should
provide a good standard of practice and care (through keeping knowledge up to date
and recognising limits).
● Safety and quality: take action promptly if needed and protect/promote
patient/public health.
● Communication, partnership and teamwork: treat patients as individuals and respect
their dignity (be polite, considerate and respect confidentiality), work in partnership
with patients (list and respond to concerns/preferences, give information
appropriately, respect autonomy & support them) and work with colleagues in the
ways that best serve a patient.
● Maintaining trust: be honest, open and act with integrity, never discriminate against
patients/colleagues and never abuse patients/public's trust in the profession.
About the guide
● Outlines the standards expected of medical students both inside and outside of
medical school.
● Shows how the principles and values of good medical practice apply to you as a
, medical student.
● Maintaining a high standard of professional behaviour: studying at medical school
will bring you into contact with physically and/or emotionally vulnerable members of
the public meaning there is a different standard expected of students.
● Information isn’t just specific to your time as a medical student on clinical placement,
but also in more general terms such as your honesty and integrity as a student.
Striving for professional excellence (going above and beyond)
↳in order to achieve this you’ll need to learn the following:
- Develop healthy ways to cope with stress and challenges (resilience)
-Deal with doubt and uncertainty
- Apply ethical and moral reasoning to your work.
- Work effectively in a team (incl. giving constructive feedback).
- Manage your own learning and development.
- Be responsive to feedback.
- Prioritise time well and ensure a good work-life balance.
- Promote patient safety and appropriately raise concerns.
- Work collaboratively with patients or other professionals.
- Deal with and mitigate against personal bias.
Domain 1: Knowledge, skills & performance
Develop and maintain your professional performance
-Keep knowledge and skills up to date so you can provide the best standard of care.
- Remain familiar with and follow any relevant laws and regulations.
- These expectations mentioned above are specific to a doctor, and so for a medical
student the expectation is more about participating fully in the learning process for both
the factual knowledge but also the learning skills.
Therefore, you must:
1. Engage fully with the course by attending all lectures, completing coursework etc.
2. Listen to advice from lecturers and trainers.
3. Comply fully with regulations or other structures set out by the medical school in
relation to studies.
4. Respond constructively to verbal or written feedback, and make action plants when
necessary.
5. Reflect on what you’ve learnt and always look at ways to improve. Reflection involves
realising the effect of your actions, determining what you could’ve done better and
responding constructively to feedback.