According to a study, most medical interns report experiencing mistreatment, including humiliation by senior doctors, being threatened, or physical abuse in their first year out of medical school.

The findings come from analysis of the responses to a 13-page survey mailed in January 1991 to 1, 733 second-year residents. The survey and analysis appear in the April 15th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Overall, out of the 1,277 residents who completed surveys, 1,185 said that they had experienced at least one incident of mistreatment in their intern year. In addition to reporting incidents where they were abused, more than 45% of the residents said they had witnessed at least one incident where other persons had made false medical records. Moreover, nearly three quarters of the residents said they had witnessed mistreatment of patients by other residents, attending physicians, or nurses. Almost 40% said patient mistreatment was a frequent event.

More than 10% of the residents said they were not allowed to have enough sleep, and the average number of hours without _ sleep was 37.6. The average on-call hours during a _ typical week was 56.9 hours, but about 25% of the residents said their on-call assignments were more than 80 hours some weeks. Although 30% of the residents said they experienced some type of sexual harassment or discrimination, verbal abuse was the most common problem cited. When abusive incidents were limited to events occurring three or more times, 53% of the respondents reported that they were belittled or humiliated by more senior residents, while just over 21% reported someone taking credit for their work. Being “given tasks for punishment,” “being pushed, kicked or hit,” and having someone “threatening your reputation or career,” were reported as a more frequent occurrence by over 10% of the responding residents.