TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CLINICAL SETTING: PROFESSIONAL SOCIALIZATION
'. . . the most forceful, professional socialization is likely to occur during clinical practice. Contact with patients, members of the health care team and exposure to clinical realities generate powerful positive and negative feelings' (Burrows, 1990).
Professional socialization can be viewed as a process whereby individuals are shaped to fit the needs of the profession. Peat (1985) believes that this process takes place mainly in the clinical environment. Professional socialization is not fully understood; concepts have been borrowed from studies of child socialization, but this is inadequate because the adult has had more experience and is subject to more diverse influences. It would be wrong to think of students as passive recipients ready to absorb the values and norms of the profession they have entered. Students both accept and reject what is delivered to them and there is usually a powerful student culture exerting far more influence than senior members of the profession.
Individuals who are selected for training are often similar to those already in the profession. This ensures that the socialization process has already begun. Despite this, students often enter their professional education with preconceived and idealistic views of what the work entails. The sudden shattering of these views when clinical work is commenced has been referred to as 'reality shock' and the requirement to change rapidly from a schoolchild to a sensitive and highly responsible adult, as 'role ageing'. Atkinson (1981) found that the attitudes of medical students moved from idealism to cynicism as their education progressed.
Students are exposed to a wide variety of models as they progress through clinical education. Although the occasional model may be a 'star', Burrows (1990) points out that most serve as partial models with the students internalizing a variety of values from each. Some may serve as 'anti-models' highlighting what the student does not want to become. Many studies show, however, that professional models are not particularly influential (Atkinson, 1981).
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