FROM STUDENT TO DOCTOR : THE PROFESSIONAL SOCIALIZATION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The professional socialization process is essential for medical students as it prepares them for their role as future doctors. This process starts the moment the Medical students commence their training. However, the active socialization process takes place during the clinical years of the medical education where medical students are posted to the various hospitals for their training. During the wardwork and wardround sessions, the skills, knowledge, norms and values of the medical profession are conveyed to the medical students. These take the form of the donning of dress code, the carrying of physician's tools and the exposure to the use of medical language. As such, medical students often tend to identify themselves to their future role as doctors when they are performing their wardwork sessions and observing wardround sessions. This is also due to the student’s first hand encounters with the patients and the disease during these sessions. on the other hand, the lack of actual involvement in the patients’ treatment make the medical students aware of their status as "outsiders" to the medical profession. This is enhanced by the fact that they are not supposed to divulge any information to the patients and the donning of longer lab coats.