“Not yet a doctor”: medical student learning experiences and development of professional identity

BACKGROUND: To become a good doctor, developing a professional identity is as important as having the right knowledge and skills. Great attention has been given to professional identity in medical school because it plays an important role in the transition from student to doctor. Nonetheless, the necessity of acquiring a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill during medical school training does not create sufficient opportunities for students to develop their professional identities. Thus, this paper pays careful attention to how students’ learning experiences in medical school affect this development. The research questions are as follows. 1) How do medical students’ perceptions of doctors change or strengthen after entering medical school in the process of professional identity development? 2) What kinds of knowledge have medical students accumulated while attending medical school? How do their learning experiences affect professional identity development? 3) What is a doctor’s role and the career’s meaning to medical students, and what understanding does this awareness bring to their learning experiences and lives as future doctors? METHODS: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 Korean students in their fourth year of medical school; all had more than one year of experience in clinical settings. The students’ learning experiences and professional identity development were used to analyze the data using inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: When students first entered medical school, they perceived their identities as “given to” them by society. However, various learning experiences during the medical school years affected them, causing them to think about becoming a doctor according to their own perceptions and the meaning of becoming a doctor in the profession. Although an isolated medical community and a competitive student culture hindered them from searching for their professional identities, informal learning experiences, including active interaction with patients, senior doctors, and others outside the medical community, enabled them to develop their professional identities. The medical students experienced a conflict between individual and professional values as they considered what kind of doctor they would be in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The findings noted in this study extend the understanding of professional identity and informal learning experiences in medical school.