Professional values at the beginning of medical school: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract Background Teaching professionalism in medical schools is central to medical education and society. We evaluated how medical students view the values of the medical profession on their first day of medical school and the influence of a conference about the competences of this profession on these students’ levels of reflection. Methods We studied two groups of medical students who wrote narratives about the values of the medical profession and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on these values. The first group wrote the narratives after a conference about the competences of the medical profession (intervention group), and the second group wrote the same narratives after a biochemistry conference (control group). We also compared the levels of reflection of these two groups of students. Results Among the 175 medical students entering in the 2022 academic year, 159 agreed to participate in the study (response rate = 90.8%). There were more references to positive than negative models of doctor‒patient relationships experienced by the students (58.5% and 41.5% of responses, respectively). The intervention group referred to a more significant number of values than the control group did. The most cited values were empathy, humility, and ethics; the main competences were technical competence, communication/active listening, and resilience. The students’ perspectives of the values of their future profession were strongly and positively influenced by the pandemic experience. The students realized the need for constant updating, basing medical practice on scientific evidence, and employing skills/attitudes such as resilience, flexibility, and collaboration for teamwork. Analysis of the levels of reflection in the narratives showed a predominance of reflections with a higher level in the intervention group and of those with a lower level in the control group. Conclusions Our study showed that medical students, upon entering medical school, already have a view of medical professionalism, although they still need to present a deeper level of self-reflection. A single, planned intervention in medical professionalism can promote self-reflection. The vision of medical professional identity was strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, positively impacting the formation of a professional identity among the students who decided to enter medical school.