ObjectivesTo interpret the phenomenon of authenticity made visible in medical students’ experiences of feeling like a doctor, i.e., how authenticity took shape in narratives about feeling like a doctor in clinical situations where students were challenged to be independent and to a high degree make choices and clinical decisions.MethodsThe conducted research was positioned within phenomenological hermeneutic research tradition, interpreting participants’ experiences in a life-world perspective using narrative inquiry. Fifteen medical students in their fifth year were interviewed focusing on clinical situations. An abductive analysis approach was used to discover patterns and to interpret data following a phenomenological hermeneutic research method for textual interpretation. ResultsThe analysis resulted in a thematic structure of findings: Opportunity to experience authenticity through creating relationships; Opportunity to experience authenticity through responsibility; Opportunity to experience authenticity through independence, managing wholeness, and follow-up processes; Opportunity to experience authenticity through being able to reason and discern. Overarching the four themes was the perceived need for attachment, i.e. attachment to patients, to supervisors, to the workplace, to the situation and reasoning and knowledge. ConclusionsEssential for the experience of feeling like a doctor was authentic situations that resulted in the experienced members of a community of practice and the perceived development of a professional identity. These findings can advance the understanding of how clinical education should be organized to facilitate professional identity development.

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This paper demonstrates a practical dimension to the discussion about threshold concepts. Threshold concepts have thus far mostly been acknowledged to elucidate learning processes mainly connected to theoretical concepts. By exploring situations that prompted experiences of autonomy and authenticity in clinical learning, findings showed how a practical experience could have the same power to transform thinking and identity as theoretical thresholds and serve as a trigger for transformational learning, therefore making the discussion about 'practical thresholds' or thresholds in practice possible. The present study explores situations that prompted autonomy and authenticity, and offers context for and substance to these situations by adopting variation theory and the threshold concept framework. In order to learn more about situations that prompt experiences of autonomy and authenticity, and create prerequisites for such experiences, this paper examines how students discern and interpret these situations by analysing them through variation theory and the threshold concept framework.

Objectives: This study explored postgraduate critical care nursing students' experiences of learning in the ICU during the COVID-19 pandemic and to understand these experiences in relation to self-directed learning and professional development.Methods: An explorative qualitative design was used. Eight postgraduate critical care nursing students from two different universities were interviewed. Questions focused on learning, supervision, ethically difficult situations, issues regarding communication, as well as the impact of the pandemic on students' health. Interviews thematically analyzed, and further analyzed using a theoretical framework focusing self-directed learning and professional development containing the concepts of autonomy, authenticity, and attachment. Results: The result consists of three themes: 1) Attachment with subthemes Attachment to the patient, Attachment to family and friends, Attachment to the ICU-context, and Attachment to the clinical supervisor. 2) Authenticity with subthemes Experiencing a varying degree of authenticity, Clinical reasoning about how to prioritize care. 3) Autonomy with subthemes Being just a student -with limited responsibility, taking responsibility, and having worries regarding one's professional development. Conclusion:Findings show the need for participation in the ICU community of practice without the demands and responsibility of full participation. Students need to be given the opportunity to form a relationship with practice. For attachment, participation, and consequently professional development to take place, there is need for inviting students to be a part of the team even during such straining circumstances as an ongoing pandemic. These findings can advance the understanding of how to organize clinical education during future crisis such as a new pandemic.