Abstract
The importance of emotions within medical practice is well documented. Research suggests that how clinicians deal with negative emotions can affect clinical decision-making, health service delivery, clinician well-being, attentiveness to patient care and patient satisfaction. Previous research has identified the transition from student to junior doctor (intern) as a particularly challenging time. While many studies have highlighted the presence of emotions during this transition, how junior doctors manage emotions has rarely been considered. We conducted a secondary analysis of narrative data in which 34 junior doctors, within a few months of transitioning into practice, talked about situations for which they felt prepared or unprepared for practice (preparedness narratives) through audio diaries and interviews. We examined these data deductively (using Gross’ theory of emotion regulation: ER) and inductively to answer the following research questions: (RQ1) what ER strategies do junior doctors describe in their preparedness narratives? and (RQ2) at what point in the clinical situation are these strategies narrated? We identified 406 personal incident narratives: 243 (60%) contained negative emotion, with 86 (21%) also containing ER. Overall, we identified 137 ER strategies, occurring prior to (n = 29, 21%), during (n = 74, 54%) and after (n = 34, 25%) the situation. Although Gross’ theory captured many of the ER strategies used by junior doctors, we identify further ways in which this model can be adapted to fully capture the range of ER strategies participants employed. Further, from our analysis, we believe that raising medical students’ awareness of how they can handle stressful situations might help smooth the transition to becoming a doctor and be important for later practice.
Highlights
Emotions comprise a physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal of situations, are ever-present in day-to-day medical practice (Redinbaugh et al 2003; Satterfield and Hughes 2007; Saunderson and Ridsdale 1999; Vegni et al 2001)
We examined these data deductively and inductively to answer the following research questions: (RQ1) what Emotion regulation (ER) strategies do junior doctors describe in their preparedness narratives? and (RQ2) at what point in the clinical situation are these strategies narrated? We identified 406 personal incident narratives: 243 (60%) contained negative emotion, with 86 (21%) containing ER
Rather than classifying all negative emotions as ‘bad’ and positive emotions as ‘good’, research suggests that the impact of both positive and negative emotions depends upon the specific context in which they occur (Ford and Mauss 2015)
Summary
Emotions comprise a physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal of situations, are ever-present in day-to-day medical practice (Redinbaugh et al 2003; Satterfield and Hughes 2007; Saunderson and Ridsdale 1999; Vegni et al 2001). Positive emotions (e.g. happiness, joyfulness, contentedness) can enable a physician to form strong doctor-patient relationships fundamental for history taking and clinical diagnosis (McNaughton 2013). There are times when up-regulating positive emotions can be problematic (Tamir and Ford 2012). When anticipating altercation, it can be more beneficial to up-regulate negative behaviours (Ford and Mauss 2015; Tamir and Ford 2012). There is strong evidence to suggest that negative emotions (i.e. feelings such as sadness, anxiety, fear and anger) can have significant adverse effects on some situations. Doctors’ negative emotions can be deleterious on their clinical decisionmaking and on health service delivery (Resnick 2012). Doctors’ abilities to regulate emotions can have important consequences for their attentiveness to patient care, patient satisfaction and for their own well-being (Kafetsios et al 2014; Ogundipe et al 2014; Sablik et al 2013; Wu et al 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
