Does Pre-clerkship Medical Humanities Curriculum Support Professional Identity Formation? Early Insights from a Qualitative Study

Overview

Journal Med Sci Educ

Publisher Springer

Specialty Medical Education

Date 2021 Aug 30

PMID 34457509

Citations 5

Authors

Rebecca L Volpe

Margaret Hopkins

Lauren Jodi Van Scoy

Daniel R Wolpaw

Britta M Thompson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

There is a lack of consensus about the outcomes of medical humanities training. In this qualitative study, the authors analyzed pre-clerkship small group discussions to assess the nature of learning in medical humanities. Twenty-two medical students (12 females and 10 males) in three humanities small groups consented to participate. The authors used inductive thematic analysis to qualitatively analyze the text from 13 weeks of curriculum. Findings indicate that students reflect about negotiating the clinician-patient relationship within the stressful environment characteristic of today's healthcare systems, that they worry about sacrificing their personal values in pursuit of honoring professional expectations, and that they encounter and commonly confront ambiguity. These themes were used to develop a descriptive framework of humanities small groups as a structure and safe space for the early development of professional identity.

Citing Articles

A national perspective: integrating medical humanities to address burnout and stress in Chinese medical education.

Zhai H, Xue J, Wu H, Liao S, Lavender C, Lv Y BMC Med Educ. 2025; 25(1):304.

PMID: 40001154 PMC: 11863532. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-025-06875-8.

A systematic scoping review of group reflection in medical education.

Phua G, Owyong J, Leong I, Goh S, Somasundaram N, Poon E BMC Med Educ. 2024; 24(1):398.

PMID: 38600515 PMC: 11007913. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-05203-w.

A Visiting Professorship in Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of Alberta: Reflections on possibilities for medical humanities in China, and elsewhere.

Wei L, Goez H, Hillier T, Brett-MacLean P MedEdPublish (2016). 2023; 9:190.

PMID: 38073836 PMC: 10699406. DOI: 10.15694/mep.2020.000190.1.

Creating Alignment: How the Humanities Can Help Heal Physicians and Patients.

Cerceo E, Vasan N J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2023; 10:23821205231203487.

PMID: 37771801 PMC: 10524040. DOI: 10.1177/23821205231203487.

How Could Personal and Sociological Determinants Influence the Shaping of Professional Identity Formation? Lessons Learned from our Experience.

Dinesh Kumar V, Murugan M Med Sci Educ. 2021; 29(3):885-886.

PMID: 34457557 PMC: 8368852. DOI: 10.1007/s40670-019-00732-2.

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