Stretching the Comfort Zone: Using Early Clinical Contact to Influence Professional Identity Formation in Medical Students.
Edvin ScheiHannah Sofie KnoopMalene Nordal GismervikMaria MylopoulosJ Donald BoudreauPublished in: Journal of medical education and curricular development (2019)
Medical students' initial clinical encounters elicit emotional responses that have the potential to serve as triggers for the development of emotional maturity, relational skills, and patient-centered attitudes. Conversely, they can foreground uncertainty and lead to defensive distancing from patients' existential concerns. The findings point to a role for structured educational strategies and supervision to assist students in the emotion work necessary in the transition from a "lay" to a "medical" identity.