“They call us NSBs”: The lived experience of becoming a doctor from a non-science background

Graduate medical programs worldwide commonly admit students from a wide range of disciplines, including those with a non-science background (NSB). This is the case in Australia, where around half of medical schools are based on graduate entry. Around 10% of successful applicants each year are NSB students, and most complete the course and go on to become successful medical practitioners. However, little is currently known about their lived experience of the medical course and, in particular, about their experience of professional identity formation (PIF) as medical students and doctors. This thesis uses a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experience of junior doctors who entered medicine as NSB students. It seeks to understand why NSB students choose to enter medicine relatively later in life, how they experience medical school, and how they form their professional identity. Data sources were 15 in-depth interviews (conducted mostly online due to COVID-19 restrictions) with recently graduated NSB doctors from seven medical schools and various disciplinary backgrounds, as well as medical school society “survival guides” from eight medical schools. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, informed by the phenomenological focus on lived experience, while also drawing on affect theory, practice theory and theories of professional becoming.