Becoming a physician involves learning to manage uncertainty and learning how to fail.

Abstract

It is well known that medical practice involves uncertainty and that medical students and junior doctors need to learn how to tolerate uncertainty and cope with the fear of making mistakes. Becoming a physician also involves learning how to manage uncertainty regarding one's own competence and capability. The authors of 'Journey into uncertainty: Medical students' experiences and perceptions of failure' raise an important and interesting topic that has largely been unexplored.1 In their study, medical students from all four years of training were interviewed to explore experiences of failure from both pre-clinical and clinical settings. The title of the paper is elegantly illustrated by two quotes (p. x), demonstrating that medical students, who are often used to academic success, develop their thinking regarding professional judgments and medical decisions from getting the correct answer on tests.