The incident originated from a video that appeared on social networks at the end of July. In the video, a female student majoring in Obstetrics and Gynecology recounted a hypothetical situation where she was looked down upon by a patient for being a medical student, then wrote content implying that she would arrange the patient's bed in a corner and intentionally take the wrong veins many times.
The video was then removed, and the two students also realized their mistakes and were disciplined and dismissed from their current positions.
The nature of the case, possibly as the leader of Hanoi Medical University said, is that the statement may have originated from impulsiveness, with the purpose of joking on social networks, but putting the health and pain of patients out as humorous content is not appropriate and difficult to accept for medical students.
Patient's pain should not become a material to make people laugh, attract views or create interaction on social networks.
Because patients come to the hospital to be treated, cared for and protected. They have the right to believe that they will be treated with responsibility and respect, rather than worrying that their attitude or words may make caregivers uncomfortable and then find ways to "take revenge".
Even if it's just a hypothetical situation on TikTok, statements about deliberately taking wrong veins many times or placing a patient's bed in a corner can easily hurt that trust.
And that is the limit that medical students need to be aware of, both in hospitals and on social networks.
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time the statement of a student majoring in health has caused controversy on social networks.
Previously, two female students from a university in Hanoi were also suspended from school for 1 year after livestreaming during clinical practice at the hospital, using vulgar language and making statements threatening to "inject poison" a person they were interacting with.
Such events show that social networks are posing an additional requirement for human resource training in the medical industry.
Today's students not only learn how to treat patients in the hospital. They also have to learn how to talk about patients on Facebook, TikTok and other platforms.
Because a sentence online can be considered a private matter of the person who posts it, but when that sentence is associated with a patient and is broadcast by someone studying medicine, it is no longer completely a private matter.
Therefore, disciplinary action is necessary for those involved to recognize the limits. But it would be more meaningful if, from these events, medical training institutions strengthen education on professional standards in the digital space.
Social networks need laughter, young people also have the right to be happy, creative and express their personality. But there are limits that need to be kept. And for medical students, one of those limits is not to joke about the pain of patients.
