Page 72 - Medical students’ self-regulated learning in clinical contexts

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opportunity for guided and independent prac ce, suppor ng re ec ve prac ce, and the opportunity to make errors.18 Direct instruc on of possible learning strategies by teachers, and the possibility to model these strategies by students, have also proven to support self-regulated learning, especially in young students, since they may not know how to use e ec ve learning strategies in a new context.22 Sugges vely, a similar parallel might be suitable in students new to a clinical context. In opposi on, a curriculum assessment strategy and pedagogy hindering strategic problem solving and autonomous inquiry has shown to hamper self-regulated learning. This also happens when teachers have limited me to support students’ self-regulated learning.22
Contrary to experimental se ngs, a clinical learning context is not a controlled se ng but a complex context primarily aimed at providing healthcare to pa ents. Learning in a clinical context entails many informal and tacit learning processes.23–25 Woods et al. addressed the process of self-regulated learning in a clinical context by studying students in a surgical clerkship.26 Their results provided insight in how students approach self-regulated learning and what ac vi es they undertake. However, the factors in uencing this process were not studied.
By gaining more insight in the factors in uencing medical students’ self-regulated learning in a clinical context on an experience level, we can be er support students’ learning processes and improve clerkship e ec veness.27 Therefore the issue under inves ga on in this study was: what are the factors that a ect medical students’ self- regulated learning in the clinical workplace?