Volume 200 - Issue 1
“They liked it if you said you cried”: how medical students perceive the teaching of professionalism
Authors: Lisa M Parker and Lisa D Watts
Med J Aust 2014; 200 (1): 22. || doi: 10.5694/mja13.11231
Published online: 20 January 2014
Published online: 20 January 2014
To the Editor: Like Birden and Usherwood, we have struggled with the need to facilitate the learning of professionalism for our medical students.1 We also recognise the importance of using authentic, real-world situations and clinical teachers to inspire meaningful reflection and discussion between students1 and to counterbalance the negative impact
of poor role models or unsuccessful clinical experiences that contribute
to the hidden curriculum.
At our ...
To the Editor: Like Birden and Usherwood, we have struggled with the need to facilitate the learning of professionalism for our medical students.1 We also recognise the importance of using authentic, real-world situations and clinical teachers to inspire meaningful reflection and discussion between students1 and to counterbalance the negative impact of poor role models or unsuccessful clinical experiences that contribute to the hidden curriculum.
At our rural clinical school, we have chosen to use a “virtual ward-round” format, in which senior medical students regularly select cases involving ethical or professional concerns from their recent clinical experiences and present them for discussion with their peers. We have trained several experienced clinicians to facilitate the discussions. To encourage students to speak openly about their opinions and what matters to them, rather than tell us what they think we want to hear, assessment of professionalism and ethics is not tied to these ward-round sessions, but is embedded in separate assignments, portfolios and viva voces.
Our teaching format is still evolving, but early evaluation shows that students benefit from the experience, and feedback from the clinicians suggests they also value the opportunity to regularly engage with this topic. We hope that formalising such discussions in this way will directly help to develop professionalism in the current cohort of students, and we also suggest that involving local clinical staff might help to change the culture, contributing to a more generalised increase in awareness of the challenges of professionalism and how best to avoid or minimise possible lapses.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Birden HH, Usherwood T. “They liked it if you said you cried”: how medical students perceive the teaching of professionalism. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 406-409. 0_CHDGBFBH
- Symonds IM, Talley NJ. Can professionalism be taught? Med J Aust 2013; 198: 380-381. 0_pgfId-2980796
- Parker LM, Watts LD, Scicluna H. Clinical ethics ward rounds: building on the core curriculum. J Med Ethics 2012; 38: 501-505. 0_pgfId-2967225