Stress among medical students and its consequences on health: A qualitative study.

This study explores medical students and interns perceived causes of stress and probes their consequences on their health. A qualitative approach was used to conduct this study. Four focus group discussions were conducted with final year medical students (8 male and 10 females) and medical interns (8 male and 7 females) at a large medical school in Saudi Arabia between October and January 2017/2018. Theoretical framework was used to analyze the qualitative data with the aid of NVivo software. Analysis of the focus groups revealed the following stressors: workload, exams and change of teams, transition periods from pre-clinical to clinical phases of the curriculum, fear of being unaccepted in the preferred specialty. The competitive environment in medical schools plays a major role as a stressor among the students and interns. Additionally, high expectations from the teaching staff and families to perform well at school are adding to the stress they experience. Students’ health and social life were perceived to be affected as a consequence of these stressors. Stress among medical students is caused by factors related to academia and others related to teachers and family expectations. Medical schools need to consider these stressors and reduce them. Special preparation and orientation sessions