The Effects of Early Clinic Experience Upon Dental Students: A Study of Professional Role Adoption.

This paper provides a progress report on a study of a new dental school that departs from the traditional approach to professional socialization by channeling its students into clinic experience early in the first year of training. Based upon data from the first 2 years of a 6-year longitudinal investigation, the study focuses on the first class to enroll at the school. The basic issue examined is the influence of early and extensive patient contact through structured clinic experience on students' professional orientations and self-conceptualizations. (Author)