Producing Doctors

Abstract

When a medical student is known for his or her exuberance, this is a personality style. When the same student says ‘I want to be a pediatrician,’ or ‘I want to be a psychiatrist,’ this is a reference to identity. The student is not born with that identity—rather it is made, although personalities and identities are interlinked. Identities are also closely linked to roles, which are usually clearly defined, socially engineered and legitimated activities, such as a senior physician’s role as leader of a ward team; or an anesthetist’s role to prepare a patient for surgery, to maintain stability during surgery and to communicate with the recovery team about post-operative pain relief. Identity thus stands between socially sanctioned roles and idiosyncratic personality, and is dynamic and historical. Hall (1994, p. 394) says: ‘identities are names we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and position ourselves within, the narratives of the past.’