[Hostile pedagogies in medical residencies: A structural problem of health training].

Abstract

Introduction: Hostile learning environments in medicine are present at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Currently, international research continues to demonstrate this problem of a structural and universal nature. There are few antecedents in Argentina, the research carried out by Reboiras (2020) was the starting point of the present work. The objective was to characterize the mistreatment perceived by physicians during training in basic medical residency programs in Argentina.

Materials and methods: A quantitative study was carried out using a descriptive-interpretative approach. The sample consisted of 509 residents, and data were collected between April 2022 and May 2023. The dimensions of analysis were educational mistreatment, psychoemotional abuse, discrimination, physical violence and sexual harassment. The study included 22 health care centers in 10 provinces of the 7 geographical regions of Argentina (Province of Buenos Aires, City of Buenos Aires, Pampas region, Cuyo region, Northwest region, Northeast region and Patagonia region).

Results: A total of 95.5% reported having suffered some type of mistreatment during their education. Prevalences of 94.5% for educational mistreatment, 62.5% for psychoemotional mistreatment, 42.1% for discrimination, 13.9% for sexual harassment and 6.8% for physical mistreatment were reported.

Discussion: There is evidence of a high prevalence of situations of mistreatment at the national level. The introjection of violence as a formative standard is confirmed, which enables the reproduction of hostile contexts and leads to difficulties in the development of professional skills such as empathy or compassion, which are key to care and quality of attention.