Student perceptions of their value to patient care.

Purpose: Engagement in meaningful activities is integral to professional identity formation, yet little has been reported in the medical education literature and no studies have focused on the medical student's perspective. This study sought to further define meaningful activities and value to patient care as perceived by third- and fourth-year medical students and to explore whether there was correlation with a sense of accomplishment.

Methods: The authors surveyed third- and fourth-year medical students of the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine regarding their perceptions using the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey. Responses of the two groups were compared, and correlations between perceived outcomes and a sense of accomplishment were calculated.

Results: Both third- and fourth-year medical students perceived themselves to be of value to patients and attending physicians and of help to patients, attending physicians, and the patient care team, although in all cases the mean responses for fourth-year students trended higher. The correlation between these items and a sense of accomplishment was greater among fourth year students.

Conclusion: Student perceptions of their value to the patient and patient care team begin to play a more prominent role as clinical experiences progress in parallel with their identify formation as physicians.