The Socialization of Physicians during Attending Rounds: A Study of Team Learning among Medical Students

Abstract

A participant observation study of teaching during attending rounds, informed by other medical education and medical sociology studies, explored the teamwork patterns learned by medical students and physicians in teaching hospitals. Within clinical medical education, there exists a distinctive authority structure that nurtures competition and collaboration among learners while ensuring reasonable patient care. Following residency training, this structure fades, and there is necessarily greater reliance on the nurses and allied health professionals from whom physicians were relatively isolated during their medical education. Therefore, interdisciplinary clinical education, involving physicians-in-training working collaboratively with other health professionals, seems warranted as preparation for medical practice.