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On the Inner Life of Physicians: Analysis of Family Medicine Residents’ Written Reflections

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Abstract

This qualitative study introduces the broad and inclusive concept of the “inner life of physicians” and analyzes the written reflections (N = 756) of family medicine residents (N = 33) during their residency as indicative of the physicians’ inner lives. Residents completed reflective entries without specific prompts. Researchers describe unsolicited emergent categorical themes indicative of a robust inner life of the physician. Nurturing physicians’ inner life through reflection allows physicians to recognize, identify, and respond to daily emotional events. Reflections about the state of physicians’ inner lives can formulate and express fundamental human questions that concern: (a) troubling human experiences (e.g., suffering, death, luck, destiny, and death); (b) questions that surface in practicing their profession; (c) spiritually explicit questions on their beliefs and practices. Physicians’ inner lives can become a “place” where physicians look for answers and explore options for dealing with their human and professional challenges, thus enhancing the humanistic aspects of medical practice.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the thoughtful contributions of Lucas Allen and Katherine Donahue, who were research assistants on this project.

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Correspondence to Andrea Vicini.

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All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Standard

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research was deemed to be “exempt” from institutional review board review by the Cambridge Health Alliance Institutional Review Board.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was not required because of the exempt nature of the project.

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Vicini, A., Shaughnessy, A.F. & Duggan, A. On the Inner Life of Physicians: Analysis of Family Medicine Residents’ Written Reflections. J Relig Health 56, 1191–1200 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0394-0

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