Health | Thesis

This doctoral thesis explores the professional socialisation of medical students through the preclinical to clinical transition of medical education. The research is based in a traditionally structured medical programme. Twenty-one students were interviewed in their third year and fourth year, before and after their shift into the clinical environment, and participant observation was also undertaken. The findings of this study are that in medical students’ preclinical years human dissection teaches students to manage their emotions, and that students are separating from the lay world. This thesis concludes that while the biomedical science shapes students’ early medical education, it is in the clinical environment that students learn to be doctors.