A Grounded Theory on the Acquired Desensitization to Patient Death Among UP Manila Medical Students

Abstract

This study deals with the process of desensitization on patient death among medical students. The primary objective is to produce a grounded theory on the topic as well as discuss the views and coping mechanisms employed by medical students when faced with patient’s death. The study used a qualitative research method and a grounded theory as its research design. The study population are medical students from the University of the Philippines Manila chosen through random probability and snowball sampling. A total of 16 medical students were interviewed for the study. Of this sample, 10 were one-on-one in-depth interviews and 6 were online interviews. Ethical considerations were undertaken to include obtaining an accomplished informed consent form explaining the study’s purpose, objectives, benefits and possible risks and the level of participation expected from the participants, and the assurance of full anonymity of the participants’ identities, confidentiality of their answers and proper use of information derived. In analyzing the data, thematic analysis and comparison of the participants’ answers were undertaken to come up with a grounded theory on the acquired desensitization on patient death among UP Manila medical students. Results of the study showed that the views toward patient death among medical students change in the course of their medical education. As a medical student goes through each year level, he or she tends to view patient death as a part of his or her future profession and regard it as an ordinary event in the hospital. For this reason, most medical students do not feel the need to employ coping mechanisms for dealing specifically with patient death. Instead, coping mechanisms are used as a means for medical students to be able to accomplish all their medical responsibilities efficiently. A grounded theory on how desensitization is acquired by UP medical students was also presented. The theory shows how UP College of Medicine’s curriculum contributes a great deal on the acquisition of desensitization to death of UP medical students. Factors such as relationship formed with patient and his or her relatives, amount of workload and its associated stress in the hospital and repeated exposure to death are also seen as significant influences for the development of desensitization among the students.