Joining the Club

The clinical environment of the hospital ward and clinic is where medical students become physicians by engaging with patients under the tutelage of clinician teachers. These formative experiences guide the students' regard and respect for patients, shape their nascent medical identities, and influence their confidence in their chosen profession. This essay is grounded in an exegesis of narratives proffered by senior medical students during a selective course on the language of medicine. These stories reveal the affinity of students for their patients and their sensitivity to inappropriate behaviors by physicians and other caregivers. By contrast, observing role models who enact respect for patients reinforces the natural regard of students towards patients as persons and engenders respect of students for their teachers. Students grapple with moral dilemmas that contribute to cognitive dissonance in their lived realities. They arrive at medical school with powerful and sometimes clear images of their calling as physicians yet encounter antithetical role models whose behaviors contradict their own evolving identities. In consequence, medical students may wonder whether entry to the club they are eager to join entails abandoning both their patients and their ideals.