{"title":"From Learner to Provider: Navigating Role Tensions in Postgraduate Medical Training Through Activity Theory.","authors":"Sin-Yee Patty Kwong, Shiuan-Ruey Yu, Kuo-Chen Liao, Shu-Chen Liao, Cheng-Ting Hsiao, Chung-Hsien Chaou","doi":"10.5334/pme.1499","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The transition from medical school to residency, especially during the postgraduate year (PGY) internship, poses unique challenges as graduates navigate clinical practice complexities. Understanding PGYs' experiences is crucial for developing effective support strategies to promote their professional growth and well-being.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This qualitative, longitudinal study followed ten PGYs from August 2021 to July 2023, using biannual audio diary based on open-ended questions to capture their experiences. Data analysis, guided by Activity Theory, focused on role conflicts and contradictions as PGYs transitioned from learners to practicing physicians.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The analysis revealed prevalent role conflicts and contradictions, primarily due to the tension between the PGYs' roles as learner and healthcare provider. Differences in objectives between PGYs and practicing doctors further exacerbated these conflicts, leading to clashes in priorities and care approaches. Consequently, PGYs experienced reality shock, lack of confidence, and feelings of incompetence, compounded by heavy workloads and exhaustion. These findings underscored the need for support and resources to help PGYs navigate these challenges and succeed in their healthcare roles.</p><p><strong>Discussions: </strong>Using Activity Theory to analyze the inherent challenges and contradictions within the PGY experience, this study offers insights for enhancing PGY preparedness, fostering both professional development and well-being. Drawing on recommendations supported by existing literature, which are stratified by tools, rules, and division of labor, we propose targeted strategies to address specific facets of the PGY role, thereby improving the overall training environment. This research highlights the need for tailored interventions to support PGYs through the challenging transition into clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":48532,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives on Medical Education","volume":"14 1","pages":"55-65"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11827561/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Perspectives on Medical Education","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5334/pme.1499","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: The transition from medical school to residency, especially during the postgraduate year (PGY) internship, poses unique challenges as graduates navigate clinical practice complexities. Understanding PGYs' experiences is crucial for developing effective support strategies to promote their professional growth and well-being.
Methods: This qualitative, longitudinal study followed ten PGYs from August 2021 to July 2023, using biannual audio diary based on open-ended questions to capture their experiences. Data analysis, guided by Activity Theory, focused on role conflicts and contradictions as PGYs transitioned from learners to practicing physicians.
Results: The analysis revealed prevalent role conflicts and contradictions, primarily due to the tension between the PGYs' roles as learner and healthcare provider. Differences in objectives between PGYs and practicing doctors further exacerbated these conflicts, leading to clashes in priorities and care approaches. Consequently, PGYs experienced reality shock, lack of confidence, and feelings of incompetence, compounded by heavy workloads and exhaustion. These findings underscored the need for support and resources to help PGYs navigate these challenges and succeed in their healthcare roles.
Discussions: Using Activity Theory to analyze the inherent challenges and contradictions within the PGY experience, this study offers insights for enhancing PGY preparedness, fostering both professional development and well-being. Drawing on recommendations supported by existing literature, which are stratified by tools, rules, and division of labor, we propose targeted strategies to address specific facets of the PGY role, thereby improving the overall training environment. This research highlights the need for tailored interventions to support PGYs through the challenging transition into clinical practice.
期刊介绍:
Perspectives on Medical Education mission is support and enrich collaborative scholarship between education researchers and clinical educators, and to advance new knowledge regarding clinical education practices.
Official journal of the The Netherlands Association of Medical Education (NVMO).
Perspectives on Medical Education is a non-profit Open Access journal with no charges for authors to submit or publish an article, and the full text of all articles is freely available immediately upon publication, thanks to the sponsorship of The Netherlands Association for Medical Education.
Perspectives on Medical Education is highly visible thanks to its unrestricted online access policy.
Perspectives on Medical Education positions itself at the dynamic intersection of educational research and clinical education. While other journals in the health professional education domain orient predominantly to education researchers or to clinical educators, Perspectives positions itself at the collaborative interface between these perspectives. This unique positioning reflects the journal’s mission to support and enrich collaborative scholarship between education researchers and clinical educators, and to advance new knowledge regarding clinical education practices. Reflecting this mission, the journal both welcomes original research papers arising from scholarly collaborations among clinicians, teachers and researchers and papers providing resources to develop the community’s ability to conduct such collaborative research. The journal’s audience includes researchers and practitioners: researchers who wish to explore challenging questions of health professions education and clinical teachers who wish to both advance their practice and envision for themselves a collaborative role in scholarly educational innovation. This audience of researchers, clinicians and educators is both international and interdisciplinary.
The journal has a long history. In 1982, the journal was founded by the Dutch Association for Medical Education, as a Dutch language journal (Netherlands Journal of Medical Education). As a Dutch journal it fuelled educational research and innovation in the Netherlands. It is one of the factors for the Dutch success in medical education. In 2012, it widened its scope, transforming into an international English language journal. The journal swiftly became international in all aspects: the readers, authors, reviewers and editorial board members.
The editorial board members represent the different parental disciplines in the field of medical education, e.g. clinicians, social scientists, biomedical scientists, statisticians and linguists. Several of them are leading scholars. Three of the editors are in the top ten of most cited authors in the medical education field. Two editors were awarded the Karolinska Institute Prize for Research. Presently, Erik Driessen leads the journal as Editor in Chief.
Perspectives on Medical Education is highly visible thanks to its unrestricted online access policy. It is sponsored by theThe Netherlands Association of Medical Education and offers free manuscript submission.
Perspectives on Medical Education positions itself at the dynamic intersection of educational research and clinical education. While other journals in the health professional education domain orient predominantly to education researchers or to clinical educators, Perspectives positions itself at the collaborative interface between these perspectives. This unique positioning reflects the journal’s mission to support and enrich collaborative scholarship between education researchers and clinical educators, and to advance new knowledge regarding clinical education practices. Reflecting this mission, the journal both welcomes original research papers arising from scholarly collaborations among clinicians, teachers and researchers and papers providing resources to develop the community’s ability to conduct such collaborative research. The journal’s audience includes researchers and practitioners: researchers who wish to explore challenging questions of health professions education and clinical teachers who wish to both advance their practice and envision for themselves a collaborative role in scholarly educational innovation. This audience of researchers, clinicians and educators is both international and interdisciplinary.
The journal has a long history. In 1982, the journal was founded by the Dutch Association for Medical Education, as a Dutch language journal (Netherlands Journal of Medical Education). As a Dutch journal it fuelled educational research and innovation in the Netherlands. It is one of the factors for the Dutch success in medical education. In 2012, it widened its scope, transforming into an international English language journal. The journal swiftly became international in all aspects: the readers, authors, reviewers and editorial board members.
The editorial board members represent the different parental disciplines in the field of medical education, e.g. clinicians, social scientists, biomedical scientists, statisticians and linguists. Several of them are leading scholars. Three of the editors are in the top ten of most cited authors in the medical education field. Two editors were awarded the Karolinska Institute Prize for Research. Presently, Erik Driessen leads the journal as Editor in Chief.
Perspectives on Medical Education is highly visible thanks to its unrestricted online access policy. It is sponsored by theThe Netherlands Association of Medical Education and offers free manuscript submission.