Effect of a patient-led educational session on pre-clerkship students’ learning of professional values and on their professional development

摘要

Background: While there are several curricula using patients as educators, little has beenpublished on how they affect student learning and professional development.Objective: To explore what 1 st year medical students learn about professional values froma patient-led educational experience and how it affects their professional development.Design: We piloted a pediatric patient and family-led educational session during the mole-cular medicine course, with the goal of sharing the experience of caring for a child witha chronic illness. Following the session, students were required to submit a written reflectionon what they learned and the impact the session had on them. All reflections from oneacademic year were qualitatively analyzed by two investigators and organized usingHyperRESEARCH software. A content analysis approach was used to generate codes andemergent themes. Two theoretical lenses guided the analyses: Arnold’s framework on profes-sional values and the lens of professional identity formation, described as a process by whichhealth care professionals “think, act and feel like a physician.Results: Students gained an appreciation of professional values, especially humanism andexcellence, and how clinician role models reinforce these values. Reflective writings demon-strated recognition among learners that their identity involved being active participants inhealth care delivery and not just as passive classroom learners. Students were motivated tostudy diligently and be patient advocates; some questioned their skills in dealing withambiguity and with the health-care system, resulting in a sense of helplessness.Conclusion: Students learn the importance of professional attributes and of clinician rolemodels through a pediatric family teaching experience. They are motivated, displayingglimpses of their future role as caregivers and patient advocates; however, some also expressfear and doubt their own abilities. Based on this, a debriefing session has been introduced toprevent a negative effect on learner self-efficacy.