Another Look at the Medical Generation Gap—Second Triennial Survey of Attitudes of Medical Students and Recent Graduates

摘要

A 1969 survey of attitudes held by medical students and recent graduates was repeated in 1972, using the same samples of respondents and adding a new freshman group. Findings from both surveys showed that a “generation gap” existed on many issues.Furthermore, a comparison of the two studies suggested that two kinds of attitude change are occurring simultaneously. On some issues, the next generation of physicians will probably continue to differ from their predecessors. Perhaps the primary thread woven through this cluster of attitudes is that today's medical students and young physicians perceive themselves as members of a larger structure for providing health care.However, many of the students' attitudes held early in their medical careers appear to have been modified in the process of becoming physicians. It appears that medical education continues to convey many traditional professional values to students, and it seems likely that tomorrow's physicians will retain a core of those values.