Struggling to fit the white coat and the role of contextual factors within a hospital organisation - an ethnographic study on the first months as newly graduated doctors

Tine Lass Klitgaard*, Diana Stentoft, Mads Skipper, Mette Grønkjær, Susanne Backman Nøhr

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
66 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Despite increased focus on improving the transition from being a medical student to working as a junior doctor, many newly graduated doctors (NGD) report the process of fitting the white coat as stressful, and burnout levels indicate that they might face bigger challenges than they can handle. During this period, the NGDs are in a process of learning how to be doctors, and this takes place in an organisation where the workflow and different priorities set the scene. However, little is known about how the hospital organisation influences this process. Thus, we aimed to explore how the NGDs experience their first months of work in order to understand 1) which struggles they are facing, and 2) which contextual factors within the hospital organisation that might be essential in this transition.
Original languageEnglish
Article number74
JournalBMC Medical Education
Volume21
Issue number1
ISSN1472-6920
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Jan 2021

Keywords

  • Contextual factors
  • Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT)
  • Ethnography
  • Medical education
  • Newly graduated doctors
  • Postgraduate
  • Qualitative research
  • Struggles
  • Transition
  • Workplace organisation

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