title: What can we learn from first-year medical students' perceptions of pain in the primary care setting?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pain concerns are one of the leading causes of visits to primary care. However, practicing physicians find managing pain frustrating and complex. There is little information about how undergraduate medical students approach pain and its management. This study aimed to explore first-year medical students' perceptions of pain-related patient encounters in the primary care setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative analysis was used to explore first-year students' reflective journals written during an early clinical experience in primary care. Using iterative process for text analysis, entries referencing pain-related encounters were coded by two independent researchers with 94% inter-rater reliability. Themes and categories were sought by immersion crystallization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three themes emerged from the students' journals: positive, negative, and neutral perceptions of pain-related encounters. With further analysis of the journals, acute, chronic, end-of-life, iatrogenic, and emotional pain categories also emerged. Most journal entries were negative, and chronic pain generated the most negativity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  First-year medical students identified pain as a major concern in their early clinical experience. Students' perceptions of pain-related encounters can inform curriculum design and may ultimately benefit both physicians and the patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195-6390, USA. corinnec@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Desnick
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bentov
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rosenblatt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*