Changes in students' attitudes and values during medicine versus surgery clerkships

A prospective study of students' attitudes and values was conducted during medicine and surgery clerkships over the first clinical year. Students who finished the surgery clerkship first were more cynical and intolerant of ambiguity than the medicine students. Surgery students also felt they lacked self-confidence and had stronger feelings of being victimized. Cynicism and attitudes towards ambiguous situations improved during the medicine clerkship. Feeling victimized was strongly correlated with their problems with self-confidence, with cynicism, and a feeling of having to submit to authority figures. The findings of this study suggest that the clerkship order significantly affects the development of students' attitudes. Students also became more punitive and less confident as the first clinical year progressed. The implications of these changes in attitude on educational planning are discussed.