First year medical students’ perceptions of the impact of wearing scrubs on professional identity: a narrative analysis in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

ObjectivesMedical school serves as a critical developmental period for future physicians, during which students begin to form a professional identity. Just as personal appearance, particularly clothing, is an important external expression of one’s personal identity, ‘uniforms’ in healthcare, including white coats and scrubs, symbolise status and a group identity. There are, however, limited studies on the impact of physician attire on medical students’ formation of professional identity. Accordingly, through qualitative analysis of written narratives, we sought to analyse medical students’ experiences of wearing professional physician attire, namely scrubs, and how the uniform impacted their confidence level, performance and behaviours, as well as their identity as future physicians.DesignQualitative analysis of medical student’s written narratives.SettingKhalifa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences (KU CMHS) is a new medical school in the United Arab Emirates, with an inaugural class of 30 students admitted in August 2019. It is the only medical school in the city of Abu Dhabi, and the only school in the country that follows a postgraduate medical curriculum.ParticipantsAll first year medical students at KU CMHS were purposively sampled.MethodsStudents completed a voluntary online anonymous questionnaire. We employed a social identity approach to data analysis. Thematic content analysis was conducted on their narratives to identify themes.ResultsWe identified three major themes, namely (1) emotions, (2) logistics and (3) interpersonal relationships.ConclusionsMedical students form early perceptions regarding physician attire and its impact on their professional identity. Engaging in conversations regarding professional attire with educators or mentors could provide an important opportunity for students to discuss and explore professional identity early in training.

Body Type and Body Dissatisfaction in Instagram Posts by Dietetics and Nursing Students

“…Scrubs help promote the formation of professional identity and self-confidence among students in medical settings. 22,23 While dietetics students typically wear a white coat in clinical settings, they do not usually wear them in the classroom or other academic settings. This may account for the less frequent classification of work attire in the dietetics student posts.…”

“…Likewise, it follows that a greater proportion of posts generated by nursing students depict work-related attire, as nursing students wear scrubs as part of their clinical rotations and while attending classes. Scrubs help promote the formation of professional identity and self-confidence among students in medical settings 22,23. While dietetics students typically wear a white coat in clinical settings, they do not usually wear them in the classroom or other academic settings.…”

Effectiveness of a professional identity promotion strategy for nursing students during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A quasi‐experimental study

“…If students enter nursing with low professional identity, they have low job satisfaction and high turnover intention, which may accelerate their demission (Jung & Yoo, 2020). Nursing students' professional identity is formed during the period of professional education (Jung & Yoo, 2020; Sorrell & Ibrahim, 2020). At this university, the professional education of nursing students mainly develops from the sophomore year.…”