Workload and health problems in medical students

The inability to cope successfully with the enormous stress of medical education may lead to a cascade of consequences at both a personal and professional level. Although common, depression associates with a high degree of disability and chronicity, with symptoms such as low mood, lack of energy, poor concentration, low self-esteem, and a lack of interest in the environment however stress has been shown to have deleterious effects on one's physical and mental well-being .The extreme stress levels inherent in the medical profession, put premedical and medical students at risk for both physical and psychological problems. The aim of this study is to determine the workload stress which leads to different health problems in medical and dental students during their undergraduate training. It was a self-administered questionnaire based survey conducted on 114 medical and dental students [32 males and 118 females] who were randomly selected in Fatima Jinnah Dental College and Dow University of Health Sciences. The result of this study shows that undergraduate medical students are suffering with stress and anxiety due to their hectic schedule and vast syllabus. From this study we can evaluate that health problems such as muscular aches and pains especially in neck, head, lower back and shoulders have increased which leads to sleep disorders. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0.This study suggests that a small percentage of medical students experience physical and mental distress throughout their medical undergraduate training.

Medical students bearing mental stress due to their academic schedule

Medical education is inherently stressful and demanding. Overwhelming burden of information leaves a minimal opportunity to relax and recreate and sometimes leads to serious sleep deprivation. Environmental and social circumstances play a major role in the onset of stress-related diseases. Developing countries share the heavy burden of social and economic challenges. A number of factors-including academic pressure, workload, financial concerns, sleep deprivation, exposure to patients' suffering and deaths, student abuse and a -hidden curriculum of cynicism have been hypothesized to contribute to this decline in students' mental health. This study determines the rate of anxiety and depression, and the associated social and environmental factors in undergraduate medical students. This study was divided into two measures theoretical problems and academic factors. Randomly data was collected by means of structured close ended questionnaire of 121 students from Fatima Jinnah Dental College[23 boys, 98 girls]. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0 Factors causing stress in undergraduate medical students was a vast syllabus which makes it difficult for their time management, there was a direct and positive relationship for lack of time for assignments and fear of catching up after a leave.