Analyzing the Construction of the Medical Professional Identity: How Do Doctors Learn to Do Doctoring?

This study is a qualitative analysis of how primary care physicians within the first five years of practice after residency construct their medical professional identity. An open-ended interview schedule was used to collect data which revealed the main themes of observational learning, dealing with uncertainty, and the importance of communication and education in patient interaction. Each doctor\u27s professional identity was ultimately a refined version of the image they attributed to doctors as a lay-person