Primary prevention of emotional impairment among medical trainees.

An extensive literature on medical students' and physicians' emotional impairment indicates the need for primary preventive programs, but few have been reported. This paper describes a seminar for premedical students aimed at preventing their later disillusionment and distress as medical trainees by fostering realistic expectations and emotional exploration. The seminar consists of open-ended discussions between premedical students and medical trainees/practitioners about stress and coping at various career stages, a physician preceptor for each student, and emotionally expressive readings and videotapes. Course-end and follow-up evaluations found that both the students' realism about their careers and their personal well-being were markedly increased.