# Drawing It Out: A Descriptive Study on How Medical Students Use Graphic Medicine to Depict Their Transition to Third Year

## TL;DR

This study explores how medical students use graphic medicine to express their feelings during the transition to clinical training, revealing mostly negative emotions and common themes like time pressure.

## Contribution

The study introduces the use of student-created cartoons as a novel method to qualitatively assess emotional transitions in medical education.

## Key findings

- Most cartoons (67%) reflected negative sentiments during the transition to clinical rotations.
- Themes included horror imagery, feelings of inadequacy, and time pressure.
- Graphic medicine analysis can help educators address student concerns.

## Abstract

Graphic medicine provides a unique method for medical students transitioning to clinical rotations to express their sentiments.

In total, 36 cartoons created by 248 third-year medical students to represent their transition to clinical rotations in 2018–2019 were qualitatively analyzed for tone and common thematic elements.

Twenty-four (67%) of these cartoons were coded as negative, eight (22%) were mixed, and four (11%) were positive. Common themes present were the use of horror imagery, feelings of inadequacy, and time pressure.

Analysis of graphic medicine provides educators an opportunity to reflect and incorporate ways to address the problems highlighted.