A Scoping Review of the Relation Between Problem-based Learning and Professional Identity Development in Medical Education

There is a substantial amount of research pointing to the benefits of pedagogical approaches such as problem-based learning (PBL) and the importance of developing professional identity as a physician in medical education. The aim of this review is to investigate the existing literature concerned with the relation between PBL and professional identity development in undergraduate medical students. We performed a scoping review of six electronic databases to map out how the relation between PBL and professional identity development in undergraduate medical students is presented in the existing literature. Eight peer-reviewed full text articles were retrieved as eligible for review. The most important conclusion from our work is that even though the topic of professional identity development in medical education has been studied quite extensively, there is a lack of knowledge about how new types of pedagogical approaches such as how a PBL curriculum influences medical students’ professional identity development

Collaborators as a key to survival:an ethnographic study on newly graduated doctors' collaboration with colleagues

BACKGROUND: Newly graduated doctors find their first months of practice challenging and overwhelming. As the newly graduated doctors need help to survive this period, collaborators such as peers, senior doctors, registered nurses and other junior doctors are crucial. However, little is known about what characterise these collaborations, and how much is at stake when newly graduated doctors are striving to establish and maintain them. This study aims to describe and explore the collaborations in depth from the newly graduated doctors’ point of view. METHODS: We conducted 135 h of participant observations among newly graduated doctors (n = 11), where the doctors were observed throughout their working hours at various times of the day and the week. Furthermore, six semi-structured interviews (four group interviews and two individual) were carried out. The data was analysed thematically. RESULTS: Newly graduated doctors consulted different collaborators (peers, senior doctors, registered nurses, and other junior doctors) dependent on the challenge at hand, and they used different strategies to get help and secure good relationships with their collaborators: 1) displaying competence; 2) appearing humble; and 3) playing the game. Their use of different strategies shows how they are committed to engage in these collaborations, and how much is at stake. CONCLUSIONS: Newly graduated doctors rely on building relationships with different collaborators in order to survive their first months of practice. We argue that the collaboration with peer NGDs and registered nurses has not received the attention it deserves when working with the transition from medical school. We highlight how it is important to focus on these and other collaborators and discuss different work-agendas, mutual expectations, and interdependence. This could be addressed in the introduction period and be one way to ensure a better learning environment and a respectful interprofessional culture

Clinical problem-based medical education: A social identity perspective on learning.

Medical education programs are responsible for educating medical students to meet the demands of a complex and fast-changing healthcare system, that requires competent, reflective, robust, and engaged students who can collaborate in interdisciplinary settings. In this article, we examine and discuss how social identities affect medical students’ learning approaches regarding how, what, and why they learn in clinical problem-based medical education. We conducted an ethnographic study at Aalborg University Hospital, involving 7 medical students for 240 hours of participant observation and 8 hours of semi-structured interviews. During the analysis, we found that medical students’ social identities as well as the clinical problem-based practice were strongly associated with how, what, and why they learn. We highlight that there is a very fine balance to be found between the assumed and assigned social identities in clinical problem-based medical education if a learning outcome of high quality is to be ensured