AMEE reflections: Helsinki 2017, Maham Stanyon, Academic GP
ST4
As my first AMEE (Association of
Medical Education Europe) experience, I feel I am still processing the
experience which was overwhelmingly positive but also positively overwhelming.
Akin to a child in an old fashioned sweetshop, all the streams had eye catching
presentations mixing flavours of innovation, professionalism, empathy and
innovation, leading to the temptation to try to see as many as possible. Just
like with sweets, some stand out more than others, and one of the highlights
for me was a presentation from the University of Newcastle entitled, ‘I never
felt stupid until I came to medical school’. In the presentation they
highlighted the ‘imposter phenomenon’ as a factor affecting student academic
performance, particularly in those that are struggling. Through semi structured
interviews interpreted through phenomenological analysis they have identified
three themes clustering around the development of imposter syndrome, navigating
medical school as an imposter and feelings related to student’s “imposturous
self”. What I found interesting was how their work suggests the imposter
syndrome develops whilst at medical school, fostered by the environment and
their experiences as students, instead of before medical school as the
literature indicates. Their talk resonated with me; we are realising that
somewhere along the line some medical students are becoming disengaged and
loosing empathy, but perhaps for some students that empathy does not develop.
As an imposter they may feel excluded from the normal behaviours of a medical
student, and not worthy of developing the attributes of a successful future
doctor. Extrapolating further, this may manifest in disengaged behaviour e.g.
poor attendance, not seeking learning opportunities due to a fear of being
‘found out’. This fear of being unmasked as an imposter must be significant for
students, particularly as they go through medical school and the stakes
increase as they gain more clinical responsibility. As with a patient who does
not feel they deserve treatment, the first step towards recovery is recognition
of the problem. We all feel out of our depth sometimes, particularly amongst
esteemed colleagues (AMEE is a good example of this). However for some students
this seems to become a mindset that requires further understanding so we can
support students to overcome their “imposturous self”.
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