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Applied Research

Crying: Experiences and Attitudes of Third-Year Medical Students and Interns

, , , , , & show all
Pages 180-187
Received 12 Feb 2008
Published online: 30 Jun 2009

Background: The medical socialization process is emotionally stressful for trainees; anecdotally, crying is a frequent response. Purposes: To understand the experiences and attitudes related to crying among 3rd-year medical students and interns. Methods: Web-based survey distributed to all 3rd-year medical students and interns at two medical schools and affiliated internal medicine residency programs. Results: Participation rates were 208/307 (68%) students and 93/126 (74%) interns. Sixty-nine percent of students and 74% of interns self-reported crying for reasons related to medicine. For both, the most common cause was “burnout.” Although there were no significant differences in crying between students and interns (p =.38), twice as many women cried as men (93% vs. 44%, p <.001). Seventy-three percent of students and 68% of interns thought discussion of physicians' crying was inadequate. Conclusions: Crying is common among medical students and interns, especially women. Many consider it unprofessional to cry in front of patients and colleagues. Trainees want more discussions of crying.

Acknowledgments

An abstract for this article was presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine. Robert M. Arnold was supported by the Project on Death in America Faculty Scholars Program, the Greenwall Foundation, Ladies Hospital Aid Society of Western Pennsylvania, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer Study Grant Fellowship, the Jewish Health Care Foundation, and the LAS Trust Foundation. Alexander K. Smith is supported by an institutional National Research Service Award, #5 T32 HP11001-19. These funders have had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the article.

 

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