Page 31 - Medical students’ self-regulated learning in clinical contexts

Students described both rou nes and typical features of a clinical department to in uence their SRL. Students also described clinical department characteris cs that didn’t t our working de ni on of rou nes, but because of their signi cance to our research aim they were included in the analysis as well. We will rst discuss the rou nes that in uenced students’ SRL, followed by a discussion of how characteris cs of departments in uenced students’ SRL.
Rou nes in a clinical department
Two themes emerged from the focus group discussions about rou nes students perceived to in uence their SRL. 1) Rou nes could in uence students’ SRL through enabling or hindering the forma on of rela onships, and 2) rou nes could make students feel a department invested e ort in their learning. We will explain the themes in more detail in the coming sec ons in which we include exemplary quotes. The le ers and digits preceding these quotes are unique iden ers of par cipants.
Theme 1: Enabling or hindering the forma on of rela onships
Rou nes could support the forma on and maintenance of professional rela onships between students and members of clinical teams by facilita ng personal a en on, informal contact, con nued collabora on in clinical ac vi es, and par cipa on as part of the team. By suppor ng rela onships, these rou nes supported students’ SRL through enabling them to engage others in their SRL, increasing their mo va on, decreasing barriers to ask ques ons, and by making learning experiences and feedback more meaningful to them.
Personal a en on
Rou nes that facilitated personal a en on included limi ng the number of students in a department and o ering longer clerkships. Both helped sta members recognizing new students, know students’ names and to get to know each student individually. Knowing one another lowered barriers for students to ask for help, made feedback from supervisors more meaningful and credible to them, and made a clerkship less stressful.
F5R1: “I had to introduce myself in my nal assessment. I think that is strange [...] if you have the assessment with someone who has monitored your progress than, eh, that person can do the assessment much be er. Yes, that decreased my mo va on a li le.”
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Rou nes of clinical departments that in uence students’ self-regulated learning Chapter 2