Journeying to the White Coat Ceremony: A description of the people, situations and experiences that inform student visions of the physician they hope to become

Little is known about the experiences that influence entering medical students’ internal concepts of themselves as future physicians. During orientation to medical school, students were asked to write stories in response to the cue, “Tell a story about a person or experience that inspired you to consider a career of service in medicine.” Qualitative methodology was employed to analyze 190 student stories. Thematic analysis identified descriptive details about content and allowed comparison between the students’ and School’s expectations. Inspirational settings, contexts, and individuals were identified. Nine different inspirational events were described. Student and School expectations for the kinds of physicians they hoped to become were generally consistent. The study demonstrates that students do indeed bring to medical school visions of the kinds of physicians they hope to become. Linking that vision with medical school activities including the White Coat Ceremony provides a bridge between medical school and students’ earlier lives, thus explicitly linking orientation to professional formation.