Stereotypes or archetypes? A study of perceptions amongst health-care students

Abstract

Abstract A study involving medical students, nursing students and social-work students is described which identifies the most commonly held perceptions each discipline has of each other. The findings of this study are compared to similar studies and the consequences of the predominantly negative perceptions are discussed within the context of inter-professional team work. A description of archetypal images which concur with the students perceptions is offered as an explanatory model that may go some way to understand the tensions that arise in health-care teams.