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Mistreatment – Culture of Respect in Education

Reporting a Concern

The Mistreatment Reporting Form is a confidential way to report a concern. You can choose to identify yourself or to remain anonymous. We ask that you provide as much detail of the incident or pattern of behavior as possible to assist us in investigating your concerns.

Whether you elect to identify yourself or not, please understand that we will investigate and follow up each report of mistreatment in a comprehensive fashion while maintaining your confidentiality.

We appreciate your time and effort in helping us achieve the highest degree of respect in our everyday interactions. We are firmly committed to providing a clinical learning environment that allows each learner to reach the milestones necessary in their training to become a competent, compassionate physician.

Learn more about Office for a Respectful Learning Environment.

See Policy PSCOM-100 in the policy portal (internal access only; login required)

Maintaining a culture of respect in our clinical learning environment is a core value of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. With input from our trainees, as well as faculty, nursing staff, medical students and others, we have developed a set of expected behaviors in our professional interactions. We also have provided examples of behaviors that we believe are not conducive to a productive educational experience.

As you interact with others during your training, you may witness or experience behaviors that are suboptimal. If you believe that an encounter violates our core values for a respectful working environment or if you feel that you or others have been the object of mistreatment in the clinical or non-clinical settings, we would like you to help us to address these concerns in the appropriate fashion.

There are many opportunities for you to do so, including discussions with:

  • the individual that you believe has been the source of disrespect or mistreatment
  • your Program Director or others in your Program’s administration
  • the Department Chair or Associate Chair responsible for education within the department
  • your mentor(s)
  • the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
  • the DIO or the Associate DIO
  • the GME ombudsmen

See contact information for these people

Types of Mistreatment

Several types of behavior constitute mistreatment. Learn more about different types of mistreatment here.

Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.