Navigating the paradox of the student-doctor status: Perceptions of general practice residents

Residency places trainees in a liminal position between student and doctor that generates learning opportunities and identity tensions. While liminality is often seen as a transitional phase, this study explored how its persistence creates a paradoxical experience at the intersection of the professional and academic expectations that may influence the residents' well-being and identity development.

This qualitative study used a constructivist grounded theory approach. Residents were recruited by snowball sampling to ensure maximum variation in participant characteristics. Eleven semi-structured interviews were carried out between May 2022 and January 2023. Data were analysed by open and axial coding with thematic triangulation, then interpreted through the lens of paradox theory.

Residents described four interwoven trajectories characterizing how they navigated the paradox: adapting to it, enduring it, becoming a professional, and developing their professional identity over time. Some experienced liminality as disorienting and unsupported, whereas others perceived it as a space for professional growth. Successful adaptation was linked to emotional regulation, reflexivity and recognition of their dual role by supervisors and institutions.

The student-doctor paradox is not a temporary discomfort, but a structural and enduring tension. Medical educators should explicitly acknowledge this paradox and support residents through reflective spaces, supervisor development programs, and recognition of their evolving professional identity.