The anatomy and physiology of conflict in medical education: a doorway to diagnosing the health of medical education systems

This qualitative study uses data from students, teachers and administrators to deepen our understanding of conflict in medical education, its nature and its consequences. It especially looks at systemic issues which may foster or hinder the health of an educational system or of any organization. Its intention is to provide better understanding of the medical education system so that this knowledge can be used to enhance the health of future medical education systems. It is preliminary to a study that would focus on ways of improving the healthiness of future systems. The findings underline the importance of moral education in the training of our future physicians (McWhinney, 1986). The importance of example by faculty and staff and moral development of the physician flows from the authors' data and their interpretation of its meaning. Also, it further underlines the importance of faculty and medical educators modeling both caring and exemplary moral behavior within our educational institutions. Bandura (1986) developed the notion of modeling and showed that, 'even at a preconscious level, we learn moral behaviors through observing and imitating authority figures and/or significant others' (Crysdale, 2006). This is especially important because caring, or compassionate presence, is so essential to healing.