The Pastoral Pool: an evaluation of a new system of pastoral care provision

Abstract

The PP is beneficial because pastoral care is provided only by dedicated staff members with an interest in student welfare. Membership is small enough to enable staff training and development. However, the system relies on self-referral by students. Rather than preventing problems arising, it therefore provides secondary support to those students insightful enough to identify their problems and motivated enough to seek help.

Supporting struggling medical students

“…However, this does not come without a price; medical students have a higher prevalence of stress‐related problems than the general population 11,18–20 . Precipitating factors include academic demands, perfectionism, competitiveness, and life and death issues 12 . Medical students who struggle typically have evidence of maladaptive learning styles, career ambivalence, adjustment disorders or major psychosocial problems.…”

“…As fitness‐to‐practise committees provide the legislative function governing the appropriateness of students remaining on the medical undergraduate course, there is a need for a supportive pastoral mechanism to identify, track and assist students experiencing difficulties with emotional, academic or physical disorders. Most medical schools track student performance continuously throughout the undergraduate years to identify and support the ‘strugglers’ 12–14 . This paper describes the introduction and evolution of a paternalistic model of pastoral care to identify and support students with persistent difficulties in the University of Edinburgh Medical School.…”

Student welfare: a network for pastoral help

“…Research has shown that medical students appear to have a higher incidence of stress‐related problems than the general population 1,2 . Precipitating factors include time pressure, academic demands, life and death issues, perfectionism and competitiveness 3 . Other common welfare problems include poor attendance, physical and psychological illness, examination failure, and financial or accommodation issues.…”

A problem shared

“…It is also difficult. So I read the paper by Sayer and colleagues 4 in this journal with a vested interest.…”

“…If that is the case, then it should be sufficient to set up a self‐referral system, whereby students would be able to see an individual member of a small pool of staff when, or if, they found it necessary. This is the new system that Sayer and colleagues have set up at St.Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry 4 …”