Producing Doctors

Abstract

TWhat is identity.When a medical student is known for his or her exuberance, this is a personality style. When the same student says ‘I want to be a pediatrician,’ or ‘I want to be a psychiatrist,’ this is a reference to identity. The student is not born with that iden- tity—rather it is made, although personalities and identities are interlinked. Iden- tities are also closely linked to roles, which are usually clearly defined, socially engineered and legitimated activities, such as a senior physician’s role as leader of a ward team; or an anesthetist’s role to prepare a patient for surgery, to maintain stability during surgery and to communicate with the recovery team about post- operative pain relief. Identity thus stands between socially sanctioned roles and idiosyncratic personality, and is dynamic and historical. Hall (1994, p. 394) says: ‘identities are names we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and posi- tion ourselves within, the narratives of the past