Academic Medicine Open Forum

Current college students have been reported to suffer higher rates of anxiety and depression than had been observed in past generations, and many educators have noted increased challenges in working with these students (Goodwin, et al., 2022; Thapar, et al., 2022). Some social scientists have observed that the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these trends and
resulted in increased stress and coping issues for this group (Grelle, et al., 2023; Hawes, et al., 2022). Most current medical students are part of this cohort. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School faculty want to create this discussion thread to to allow the GSA members to share their own experiences in working with the challenges presented by the current generation of medical students, to share practices they might already use, and to brainstorm about possible approaches to increase adaptive student coping.

Current college students have been reported to suffer higher rates of anxiety and depression than had been observed in past generations, and many educators have noted increased challenges in working with these students (Goodwin, et al., 2022; Thapar, et al., 2022). Some social scientists have observed that the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these trends and
resulted in increased stress and coping issues for this group (Grelle, et al., 2023; Hawes, et al., 2022). Most current medical students are part of this cohort. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School faculty want to create this discussion thread to to allow the GSA members to share their own experiences in working with the challenges presented by the current generation of medical students, to share practices they might already use, and to brainstorm about possible approaches to increase adaptive student coping.

Thanks for opening this conversation thread on an important topic, Dr. Laumbach. I wanted to begin by offering the community a gentle reminder to resist reductionist generational stereotypes when considering the unique challenges facing medical students at this moment in history. In an article for "Medical Teacher" co-authored with colleagues in medical education, internal medicine, and pharmacy, we propose "generational situatedness" as a more nuanced frame for engaging with the needs and expectations of contemporary cohorts of medical students. You can find it here; hoping this framework may be of use to some in their work to support students. 

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Current college students have been reported to suffer higher rates of anxiety and depression than had been observed in past generations, and many educators have noted increased challenges in working with these students (Goodwin, et al., 2022; Thapar, et al., 2022). Some social scientists have observed that the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these trends and
resulted in increased stress and coping issues for this group (Grelle, et al., 2023; Hawes, et al., 2022). Most current medical students are part of this cohort. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School faculty want to create this discussion thread to to allow the GSA members to share their own experiences in working with the challenges presented by the current generation of medical students, to share practices they might already use, and to brainstorm about possible approaches to increase adaptive student coping.