Cavaco C, Paulos C, Sanches T. Not looking to be heroes: a discourse analysis of professional identity and recognition of physicians in Portugal in the context of the pandemic. Interface (Botucatu). 2026; 30: e250819 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/interface.250819
Abstract
Recognition and identity are structuring dimensions of the subject. The aim of this study was to analyze the professional identity and recognition of physicians in Portugal based on their experiences in an unprecedented limit-situation. Using discourse analysis, we sought to understand how physicians’ testimonies in newspapers during the Covid-19 pandemic (re)produce the real world, shaping professional practices and identities. The discourses highlight the efforts of frontline physicians to ensure the provision of quality health care, but also show how the severity of the situation, lack of equipment and treatments, and the deterioration of working conditions affected their work, causing fatigue and suffering. Addressing medical professionalism, the discourses establish consensus and reflect struggles related to the public health system, dignity, ethics, identity and professional recognition, highlighting processes that produce and legitimize power and professional prestige.
Keywords
Physicians; Professional identity; Recognition; Professionalism; Discourse analysis
Access in: https://doi.org/10.1590/interface.250819
