Abstract
The first year of practice after medical school is considered to be an essential part of becoming a medical practitioner in Australia. Previous qualitative investigations have investigated a number of significant aspects of this early stage of professional development. This qualitative study explores experiences and developing professional identities during internship. Thirty interns and six intern supervisors were interviewed from three different Australian states. Grounded theory techniques were used to develop three key themes: internship-as-participation, internship-as-progression, and conflicts, parallels, disturbances and outliers. Key findings were: the important balance between support from colleagues and development through taking independent responsibility; and the strength of the view of internship as part of a ‘natural progression’, an inevitable evolution through the stages of medical training.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of: Beverley Bird; Samantha Thomas and team; and Fiona Williams. We would also like to thank the Associate Editor and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments. The data in the study was collected for the Australian Medical Education Study, funded by Commonwealth of Australia.
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Bearman, M., Lawson, M. & Jones, A. Participation and progression: new medical graduates entering professional practice. Adv in Health Sci Educ 16, 627–642 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-011-9284-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-011-9284-5