Teaching professionalism to first year medical students using video clips

Abstract

Background: Medical schools are confronted with the challenge of teaching professionalism during medical training. The aim of this study was to examine medical students’ perceptions of using video clips as a beneficial teaching tool to learn professionalism and other aspects of physicianship.

Methods: As part of the longitudinal Physician Apprenticeship course at McGill University, first year medical students viewed video clips from the television series ER. The study used qualitative description and thematic analysis to interpret responses to questionnaires, which explored the educational merits of this exercise.

Results: Completed questionnaires were submitted by 112 students from 21 small groups. A major theme concerned the students’ perceptions of the utility of video clips as a teaching tool, and consisted of comments organized into 10 categories: “authenticity and believability”, “thought provoking”, “skills and approaches”, “setting”, “medium”, “level of training”, “mentorship”, “experiential learning”, “effectiveness” and “relevance to practice”. Another major theme reflected the qualities of physicianship portrayed in video clips, and included seven categories: “patient-centeredness”, “communication”, “physician-patient relationship”, “professionalism”, “ethical behavior”, “interprofessional practice” and “mentorship”.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that students perceived the value of using video clips from a television series as a means of teaching professionalism and other aspects of physicianship.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the continuous support from the Physicianship Curriculum Development Office at McGill University and would like to specifically acknowledge Anne Briggs for her administrative assistance. The authors wish to thank Dr Barry Slapcoff for his leadership role in the Physician Apprenticeship course and specific endorsement of this program as well as the individual Osler fellows for implementing this teaching tool in their Osler group sessions.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts-of-interest.