The first year in practice is full of existential questions. At the top of the list: What do other doctors expect of me?
A recent webinar hosted by the AMA Academic Physicians Section, features a discussion of how varying generations pursue work ethics and values.
Presenters and panelists identified key factors that support or hinder the development of professionalism in trainees. They also suggested approaches for teaching professionalism that account for different generations’ experiences and values.
Why generational differences matter
“What is a generation?” asked Geoffrey A. Talmon, MD. “The simplest definition I've ever found is: a group of individuals who are born and are living together in roughly the same time period.”
Dr. Talmon co-edited Mind the Gap: Generational Differences in Medical Education, which is thought to be the first work dedicated to managing intergenerational conflict in medical education.
The reason to look at society through a generational lens, he said, is that shared experiences during a group’s formative years—such as world events, popular culture and technological advances—have a common impact on group members’ adult lives. This includes “people’s behaviors, their perspectives, their preferences, their expectations and how they prefer to communicate.”
Still, this involves making “massive generalizations” that need to be kept in check, noted Dr. Talmon, associate dean for medical education at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine.
“If you take nothing else away from any conversation about generations, the one thing I hope you remember is, while there may—and may is underlined and italicized—be benefit in using generational descriptions to describe large groups of people over time, be very cautious applying a generational descriptor of any type to an individual,” Dr. Talmon said.
The webinar, “Navigating Generational Differences in Professionalism," is part of a CME module that is enduring material and designated by the AMA for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
The webinar recording is located on the AMA Ed Hub™, an online learning platform that brings together high-quality CME, maintenance of certification, and educational content from trusted sources, all in one place—with activities relevant to you, automated credit tracking, and reporting for some states and specialty boards.
Learn more about AMA CME accreditation.
Dive deeper:
- OK Boomer, MD: 4 steps to better communication across generations
- 5 things young physicians should know about mentor relationships
- Generational trends underlie doctors’ move from private practice
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Strategies for younger generations
The majority of residents transitioning to practice are millennials, born between roughly 1980 and 2000. They might consider how their generation typically differs from older ones, particularly Generation X and Baby Boomers.
Millennials and other younger trainees generally “had a lot of input in their family lives, more so than older generations had in their family lives,” Dr. Talmon said. “Their activities dictated what the families did. Parenting styles were much more hands-on with younger generations than they were in older generations.”
This might come into play, for example, when seeking feedback. As noted in the reactions, older generations might not be accustomed to providing it as quickly as the younger generation wants it.
But there is an even younger generation, Generation Z, right on millennials’ heels, so it might help residents transitioning to practice to focus not just on what may be typical of individual generations but also what is universal.
“Humans are humans. We’re all driven. We all want to succeed. We all value our elders. We all work hard,” Dr. Talmon said. “If there is any value in generational descriptions, it may be to discuss how we approach a topic to start, what a preference may be. But in the end, I would argue every human being's goal is the same, particularly in health professions.”
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What is a professional anyway?
The webinar also features a presentation from Lila Kagedan, MTS, MEd, on teaching professionalism to medical students.
“Much like Aristotle’s assertion that virtue can be taught—and ought to be—I ask: Can professionalism be taught?” she said. “I eagerly answer: Yes.”
Kagedan then went through her medical school’s code of conduct and professionalism policy in detail.
“These guidelines make explicit the attitudes and behaviors described by the term professionalism as we understand it, which serve as the foundation of the expectations that society has for members of the medical and health sciences community,” said Kagedan, dean of ethics and professionalism at New York Medical College.
A reaction panel composed of representatives from the AMA Medical Student Section, AMA Resident and Fellow Section, and AMA Young Physicians Section shared their perspectives on professionalism in their learning environments.
The AMA Transitioning to Practice series has guidance and resources on deciding where to practice, negotiating an employment contract, managing work-life balance and other essential tips about starting in practice.
