Health habits of medical students during operating room rotations

Abstract

Purpose: Healthy habits have been linked with enhanced learning during medical school, motivating some schools to institute healthy self-care programs for students. This study examined the health habits of medical students in the USA and Canada during OR rotations and compared the results with recommended health guidelines. Methods: The authors created a survey examining markers of a healthy lifestyle. The questions were derived from scientific guidelines and pertained to getting adequate amounts of exercise and sleep, and abstaining from excessive consumption of junk food, caffeine, and alcohol. Several demographic predictor variables were also measured. Results: A total of 543 students completed the survey. The proportions of students meeting recommended health guidelines for each health habit were as follows: alcohol (79.2%), caffeine (51.3%), food (47.6%), sleep (38.2%), and exercise (18.6%). The proportion of students meeting all health guidelines concurrently was 4.1% and the proportion meeting none was 4.8%. Men had a lower risk of poor health habits (odds ratio=0.66 , p=0.018 ) and older students (odds ratio=2.17 , p=0.012) were at a higher risk of having poor health habits. Conclusions: The vast majority of the medical students surveyed were not in compliance with healthy lifestyle guidelines. This research supports the need for healthy self-care programs for medical students and specifically draws attention to the importance of physical activity.