Xiangya Hospital: The student who died after falling into the river, Sun, was a female resident trainee at the hospital; her mentor Gu had previously published papers stating that intern doctors have complex psychological states, and teaching instructors must care for them and tailor their guidance accordingly.

What is AI · Xiangya Hospital’s confirmation regarding the death of Student Sun who fell into the river?

Recently, the disappearance of Sun, a 2023 graduate student at Central South University Xiangya Hospital, has attracted widespread attention.

On March 16, the Hunan Provincial Health Commission website released a situation report confirming that Sun, a 2023 graduate student at Central South University Xiangya Hospital, was missing and was later confirmed to have fallen into the river, with no vital signs remaining.

Media reports indicated that before disappearing, Sun allegedly posted a farewell message mentioning, “Finished my last night shift, the next patients may need to rely on everyone,” and claimed that her mentor, Gu, arranged tasks that severely affected her training work.

On March 17, a reporter checked the appointment registration system of Central South University Xiangya Hospital and found that the appointment slots for Gu, associate chief physician and director of the neurology department, showed as “suspended.”

In response to this matter, on the afternoon of March 17, a reporter from Urban Scene called Xiangya Hospital. A staff member said that Gu had indeed stopped seeing patients and was currently cooperating with the investigation into Sun’s fall into the river.

The staff member also confirmed to the reporter that Sun was a female student, a trainee in the hospital’s neurology department, and that the hospital would issue further updates on the matter.

According to publicly available information from Xiangya Hospital, Gu, aged 58, is the chief physician of the neurology department, holds a doctorate in medicine, is deputy director of the department, a master’s supervisor, and has postdoctoral experience at Stanford University. His research focuses on cerebrovascular diseases. He also serves as a standing member of the Chinese Stroke Society’s Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Branch, deputy director of the Hunan Province Cerebrovascular Disease Prevention and Treatment Center, among other academic positions, and has participated as a principal or core member in multiple national scientific research projects.

A search on CNKI revealed that in 1990, the year Gu graduated from Hunan Medical University, he published a paper as the second author in Medical Education titled “On the Psychological Induction of Clinical Intern Doctors.”

This paper analyzed the various psychological states of clinical interns at different learning stages, noting that their mental states are complex. It emphasized that mentors must care for them and provide targeted psychological guidance.

For example, the paper suggested that when interns face difficulties, mentors should patiently and logically explain, set an example for them, and provide feedback to support their learning; mainly encourage and support, criticize less, especially in front of patients, to avoid provoking resistance or opposition.

It also recommended adjusting their emotional activities: mentors should care for their students, foster their love for the profession, and cultivate their resilience so they are not overwhelmed by heavy procedures, discouraged by temporary failures, or lose faith and pursuit.

When discussing cultivating interns’ strong will, the paper quoted the ancient saying, “Heaven will entrust great responsibilities to a person only after tempering their mind and body, strengthening their muscles and bones,” suggesting that interns should enhance their physical fitness.

The reporter noted that in 1990, when this paper was published, Gu was 22 years old, roughly the same age as Sun, who was in training. However, at that time, China had not yet fully implemented standardized residency training.

From a national perspective, China’s residency training began in the early 1920s. In 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and six other departments jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Establishing a Standardized Residency Training System,” requiring medical graduates to participate in no less than three years of training, making it a mandatory regulation.

Currently, the main models for clinical medical talent training in China include a 5-year undergraduate program, the “5+3” integrated program (bachelor’s and master’s combined), an 8-year combined bachelor’s and doctoral program, and the “5+3+X” model. Xiangya School of Medicine mainly adopts the 8-year clinical medicine (bachelor’s and doctoral combined) training model.

In recent years, the school has also been exploring the “dual-track” training for professional master’s students, combining clinical medicine postgraduate education with standardized residency training, allowing students to obtain graduation certificates, degrees, physician licenses, and residency qualification certificates simultaneously upon graduation.

Source: Urban Scene, compiled from Shangyou News, Xinwanbao, Xinhuanghe