Medical Professionalism in the Formal Curriculum: 5th year Medical Students’ Experiences

In 2010, as part of a revision of the fifth year curriculum the University of Bristol Medical School introduced tutorials which focused on students’ achievement of the learning objectives in ‘Tomorrow’s Doctors Outcomes 3: the doctor as a professional’. This study sought to explore the students’ experiences of these tutorials in order to develop the evidence base further. Sixteen medical students participated in three focus-group interviews exploring their experiences of medical professionalism tutorials. A course evaluation questionnaire to all fifth year students also provided data. Four main themes were identified: students’ aversion to ‘ticking-boxes’, lack of engagement by the students, lack of engagement by the tutors and students’ views on how medical professionalism should be taught. These findings demonstrated that a curriculum innovation which placed the achievement of medical professionalism in the formal curriculum was not unanimously embraced by students or faculty.