Foucault's "fearless speech" and the transformation and mentoring of medical students

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.32920/14639142 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas J Papadimos ◽

Stuart J Murray

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

American Medical ◽

Free Speech ◽

Freedom Of Expression ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Truth Telling ◽

The Public ◽

Educational Effort ◽

Ethical Response

In his six 1983 lectures published under the title, Fearless Speech (2001), Michel Foucault developed the theme of free speech and its relation to frankness, truth-telling, criticism, and duty. Derived from the ancient Greek word parrhesia, Foucault's analysis of free speech is relevant to the mentoring of medical students. This is especially true given the educational and social need to transform future physicians into able citizens who practice a fearless freedom of expression on behalf of their patients, the public, the medical profession, and themselves in the public and political arena. In this paper, we argue that Foucault's understanding of free speech, or parrhesia, should be read as an ethical response to the American Medical Association's recent educational effort, Initiative to Transform Medical Education (ITME): Recommendations for change in the system of medical education (2007). In this document, the American Medical Association identifies gaps in medical education, emphasizing the need to enhance health system safety and quality, to improve education in training institutions, and to address the inadequacy of physician preparedness in new content areas. These gaps, and their relationship to the ITME goal of promoting excellence in patient care by implementing reform in the US system of medical education, call for a serious consideration and use of Foucault's parrhesia in the way that medical students are trained and mentored.

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Foucault's "fearless speech" and the transformation and mentoring of medical students

10.32920/14639142.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas J Papadimos ◽

Stuart J Murray

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

American Medical ◽

Free Speech ◽

Freedom Of Expression ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Truth Telling ◽

The Public ◽

Educational Effort ◽

Ethical Response

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Willingness of Journalists and Public to Support Freedom of Expression

Newspaper Research Journal ◽

10.1177/073953299401500111 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 102-114 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Julie L. Andsager ◽

M. Mark Miller

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

Free Speech ◽

Freedom Of Expression ◽

The Public ◽

Personal Rights

Two sets of survey data - one from a survey of ASNE members - were combined and analyzed to determine differences between journalists and the public in support of media rights and personal rights of free speech. Results indicate that journalists are significantly more supportive than the public of both kinds of expressive rights.

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THE PEDIATRICIAN AND THE PUBLIC

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.9.1.124 ◽

1952 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 124-129

Author(s):

LOUIS H. BAUER

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Medical Education ◽

American Medical Association ◽

Medical Association ◽

American Medical ◽

The United States ◽

Board Of Trustees ◽

The State ◽

Governing Body ◽

The Public

The American Medical Association was organized in 1847. Its original aim was the improvement of medical education in the United States. This still remains one of its important activities but the Association has expanded tremendously since its formation. It now consists of 2,011 component county and district societies and 53 constituent associations in the States, Territories and Possessions. County and district societies elect delegates to the state associations and the whole membership of these county societies takes part in their election. These delegates form a State House of Delegates which in turn elects delegates to the American Medical Association. The A.M.A. House of Delegates is the legislative body of the Association and is responsible for all official policies. All reports, resolutions and recommendations are referred by the House to several Reference Committees who hear testimony on both sides of every question and then render reports to the House. Here all reports are debated again and brought to a vote. Any member of the Association, whether or not a member of the House, can appear before a Reference Committee and state his opinions and recommendations on the matter under discussion. Between sessions of the House of Delegates, the Board of Trustees is the governing body.

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The Medical School Marketplace, c.1850–1900

Irish medical education and student culture, c.1850-1950 ◽

10.5949/liverpool/9781786940599.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Kelly

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Student Experience ◽

Bedside Teaching ◽

Student Behaviour ◽

Irish Medical

The early nineteenth century has been frequently hailed as the ‘golden age of Irish medicine’ as result of the work of physicians Robert Graves and William Stokes, whose emphasis on bedside teaching earned fame for the Meath Hospital where they were based. However, by the 1850s and for much of the nineteenth century, Irish medical education had fallen into ill-repute. Irish schools were plagued by economic difficulties, poor conditions, sham certificate system, night lectures and grinding, all of these affected student experience in different ways. Furthermore, intense competition between medical schools meant that students wielded a great deal of power as consumers. Irish students had a remarkable amount of freedom with regard to their education and qualifications. As the medical profession became increasingly professionalised, student behaviour improved but disturbances and protests in relation to professional matters or standards of education replaced earlier rowdiness. The nineteenth century also witnessed complaints by medical students about the quality of the education they were receiving, resulting, for example, in a series of visitations to Queen’s College Cork and Queen’s College Galway. This chapter highlights these distinctive aspects of Irish medical education while illustrating the power of Irish students in the period as consumers.

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Irish Medical Education and Student Culture, c.1850-1950

10.5949/liverpool/9781786940599.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laura Kelly

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Religious Affiliation ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Student Life ◽

Student Culture ◽

History Of ◽

Irish Medical

This book is the first comprehensive history of medical student culture and medical education in Ireland from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1950s. Utilising a variety of rich sources, including novels, newspapers, student magazines, doctors’ memoirs, and oral history accounts, it examines Irish medical student life and culture, incorporating students’ educational and extra-curricular activities at all of the Irish medical schools. The book investigates students' experiences in the lecture theatre, hospital, dissecting room and outside their studies, such as in ‘digs’, sporting teams and in student societies, illustrating how representations of medical students changed in Ireland over the period and examines the importance of class, religious affiliation and the appropriate traits that students were expected to possess. It highlights religious divisions as well as the dominance of the middle classes in Irish medical schools while also exploring institutional differences, the students’ decisions to pursue medical education, emigration and the experiences of women medical students within a predominantly masculine sphere. Through an examination of the history of medical education in Ireland, this book builds on our understanding of the Irish medical profession while also contributing to the wider scholarship of student life and culture. It will appeal to those interested in the history of medicine, the history of education and social history in modern Ireland.

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Conscience-Based Exemptions for Medical Students

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics ◽

10.1017/s0963180109990235 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 38-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

MARK R. WICCLAIR

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Student ◽

American Medical Association ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical Association ◽

American Medical ◽

Religious Beliefs ◽

Educational Activities ◽

Seven Principles

Just as physicians can object to providing services due to their ethical and/or religious beliefs, medical students can have conscience-based objections to participating in educational activities. In 1996, the Medical Student Section of the American Medical Association (AMA) introduced a resolution calling on the AMA to adopt a policy in support of exemptions for students with ethical or religious objections. In that report, students identified abortion, sterilization, and procedures performed on animals as examples of activities that might prompt requests for conscience-based exemptions (CBEs). In response to the student initiative, the Council on Medical Education recommended the adoption of seven “principles to guide exemption of medical students from activities based on conscience.” The House of Delegates adopted these principles in their entirety.

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Now, I think doctors can be heroes … Medical student’s attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on key aspects of medical education and how the image of the medical profession has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift ◽

10.1007/s10354-021-00891-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Verena Steiner-Hofbauer ◽

Julia S. Grundnig ◽

Viktoria Drexler ◽

Anita Holzinger

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Distance Learning ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Practical Training ◽

Undergraduate Medical Students ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Negative Comments ◽

Key Aspects

Summary Background The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic hit the world in early 2020 and influenced medical education worldwide. Distance learning, risk of infection and patient care, telehealth literacy, medical ethics and research in medical education are key factors of medical education challenged by the pandemic. Additionally, the following question arises: “What do medical students think about their future profession in the face of this crisis?” Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among all undergraduate medical students of the Medical University of Vienna. 872 students answered the self-developed questionnaire. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were conducted. Results The data show that the COVID-19 pandemic has raised awareness for the key aspects. In all areas of interest, students’ feeling of petaredness is limited. Limitations in practical training and distance learning as well as social isolation concern a majority of students. Neutral, positive, and negative themes emerged in qualitative data analysis. Only 8% of the students of the first 3 years of study versus 13.4% of the students in higher years commented negatively. 18.7% of male vs. only 12.5% of all female students’ comments were positive. A large proportion of positive comments were dedicated to the relevance and deeper meaning of the medical profession. Infection risk and the demanding nature of the medical profession were predominant in negative comments. Conclusion The COVID-19 crisis has turned the spotlight on several aspects of medical education in need of reform. In addition, the occupational image of the medical profession seems to shift under the weight of this pandemic.

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Psychiatry and Its Checkered Past

Sociocultural Issues in Psychiatry ◽

10.1093/med/9780190849986.003.0006 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 87-102

Author(s):

Judith Puckett ◽

David Shumway Jones

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Medical Education ◽

Mentally Ill ◽

Medical Profession ◽

The Other ◽

Psychiatric Nosology ◽

The Public ◽

History Of ◽

Medical Professions ◽

The Continuum

This chapter examines the history of critiques that have been made of psychiatric practice in specific times and specific places. Though psychiatry is well-established as part of the medical profession and requires completion of a medical education all doctors receive, psychiatrists are often viewed as distinct from other doctors, and psychiatry continues to be viewed negatively in the public eye. Psychiatrists themselves have been partly to blame for this; the profession originally spent decades attempting to differentiate itself from the other medical professions. Since it is not possible to cover every aspect of the history of critiques of psychiatry, the chapter focuses on two major problems that continue to influence how psychiatry is practiced and perceived today: the development of asylums as a form of confinement for those who are mentally ill, and the development of psychiatric nosology and diagnosis. By exploring the continuum of mental illness and the idea of “normal versus abnormal,” the chapter offers psychiatrists a framework for how they can think about their work going forward.

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Dissecting the Student Experience at Australian Medical Schools, 1884–1912

Social History of Medicine ◽

10.1093/shm/hkaa012 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Eugenia Pacitti

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Medical Profession ◽

Student Experience ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Left Behind ◽

Lecture Notes ◽

History Of

Abstract Historians of medicine have observed that the student experience of medical school is difficult to capture. While students sometimes left behind notebooks containing lecture notes and diagrams, there is often little evidence that illuminates their lived experiences and responses to their education. This article analyses written submissions to the publication of the Melbourne Medical Students’ Society, Speculum, between 1884 and 1912, to argue that students at the Melbourne Medical School in this era actively participated in discussions about the curriculum on offer, were highly aware of the moral and ethical consequences of their actions in the dissecting room and took great interest in the advancements and debates of the medical profession. It reclaims the student experience of medical school, which has often been hidden in favour of history written from the perspective of those in positions of power, to offer fresh insights into the history of medical education.

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