Page 135 - Medical students’ self-regulated learning in clinical contexts

Prac cal implica ons
SRL is a highly complex process, in uenced by individual and context. Therefore, I will rst discuss the prac cal implica ons of this research that relate to the students themselves, and a erwards I will discuss how students’ SRL can be supported by a clinical context on both an individual and a curricular level.
Preparing students for SRL in a clinical context
Students’ SRL is in uenced by their personal concep ons regarding learning and healthcare.1 This involves what they believe it is to be an academic and what a good doctor is, e.g. the professional iden ty they want to develop. All of their concep ons are in uenced by previous experiences. Therefore, helping students to engage in ef- fec ve SRL in a clinical context begins with helping them to understand what learning is, what e ec ve learning strategies are in a clinical context, and helping them create a clear idea of what kind of professional they want to become.
In our studies it became apparent students in a clinical context frequently used learn- ing strategies they also used in preclinical medical educa on. We therefore need to increase students’ metacogni ve awareness from early on in medical educa on to overcome these issues.38 Mentoring,39 mapping,40 and using microanalysis protocols to gain an insight in students’ current engagement in SRL41–43 may provide insight in the issues that need to be addressed most urgently, which may prove to be especially important for struggling students.44,45A learning to learn course might also be bene - cial for students’ engagement in SRL.46
Addi onally, a stronger focus on professional socializa on in clinical contexts is im- pera ve. It is essen al to adapt departmental rou nes that engage students in the clinical team, because students learn from par cipa ng in real, meaningful ac vi- es par cipa ng in the periphery of a community of prac ce.10 By doing this, stu- dents will increasingly feel like a true valuable member of a clinical community. This includes that students will start to think, act and feel like physicians and gradually adopt a clinical iden ty.5 Besides support in developing a clinical iden ty, a construc- ve learning climate is also crucial for achieving this.47 Addi onally, as we described in chapter 3 and 5, students who feel comfortable in a clinical context are likely to have be er learning outcomes because the range of people they engage with in their self-regulated learning is larger.
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Chapter 6 General Discussion