Assessing Personal Reflection and Professional Identity Formation in Undergraduate Medical Education

Abstract: During their pre-clinical years, medical students have few opportunities to develop reflective capacity. These opportunities are typically optional, not built into medical curricula. Reflective capacity enables practitioners to consider the emotional and cognitive impacts of their decisions, objectively evaluate those decisions, and apply this analysis to future situations. Whether and how building reflective capacity may contribute to professional identity formation is poorly understood.

Previous research has shown that exposure to the humanities during medical training can have a positive effect on professional identity formation. Our Medical Humanities track introduces students to narrative medicine, visual art observation, and creative writing through a series of electives. Most class sessions within the track require students to respond to questions via a shared discussion board about a pre-assigned reading or artwork before class. These questions probe students’ reactions to the material and prime them for the upcoming discussion.
Using thematic content analysis, we examined discussion board responses from three pre-clinical student cohorts. We found that these discussion boards gave students an opportunity to reflect on patients’ experiences (including their own), practice(s) of medicine and doctoring, and to offer critiques of medicine and medical education. Students grappled with professional identity problems including anxiety and discomfort about maintaining empathy and acclimating to professional life. We will present the results from this pilot study and discuss ways to improve the quality of reflective practice among medical students.

David Curtis – Baylor College of Medicine; Amelia Mercado – Baylor College of Medicine