Educator as Diagnostician, Judge and Confidant: a positioning analysis of medical student support encounters

Abstract

Medical schools, programs and educators are increasingly expected to address medical student stress and wellbeing, yet also ensure student competence and fitness to practice. Educators play a central role in supporting students when evaluating a student's concerns and in deciding whether support and/or sanction should be offered. It is not known how educators approach or resolve such potentially contradictory responses. We conducted an interview study of 21 medical educators from a range of professional backgrounds across 11 on-campus and clinical teaching sites. Using Positioning Theory to inform our thematic analysis, we found that participants adopted an overarching position of Diagnostic..