Resident physicians' clinical training poses unique challenges for the delivery of safe patient care. Residents face special risks of involvement in medical errors since they have tremendous responsibility for patient care, yet they are novice practitioners in the process of learning and mastering their profession. The present study explores…

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) implemented work hour restrictions for physicians in training in 2003 that were revised July 1, 2011. Current published data are insufficient to assess whether such work hour restrictions will have long-term impact on residents' education. We searched computer-generated reports…

The aim of this study was to explore how medical students perceive the experience of learning from patient instructors (patients with rheumatism who teach health professionals and students) in the context of coupled faculty-led and patient-led teaching session. This was an explorative study with a qualitative approach based on focus group…

Dealing with emotions is a critical feature of professional behaviour. There are no comprehensive theoretical models, however, explaining how medical students learn about emotions. We aimed to explore factors affecting their emotions and how they learn to deal with emotions in themselves and others. During a first-year nursing attachment in…

Existing research into learning about patient safety focuses on identifying how educational interventions improve educational outcomes but few studies offer evidence that inform educators about the mechanisms involved in learning about patient safety. The current evidence based in undergraduates is also limited to outcomes that relate to knowledge…

A growing group of inpatients on acute clinical teaching units have non-acute needs, yet require attention by the team. While anecdotally, these patients have inspired frustration and resource pressures in clinical settings, little is known about the ways in which they influence physician perceptions of the learning environment. This qualitative…

Clerkship education has been called a "black box" because so little is known about what, how, and under which conditions students learn. Our aim was to develop a blueprint for education in ambulatory and inpatient settings, and in single encounters, traditional rotations, or longitudinal experiences. We identified 548 causal links…

The objective of this narrative review of the literature is to draw attention to four undesirable features of the medical learning environment (MLE). First, students' fears of personal inadequacy and making errors are enhanced rather than alleviated by the hidden curriculum of the clinical teaching setting; second, the MLE projects a denial…

For patients at the end of life, it is crucial to address the psychological, existential, and spiritual distress of patients. Medical education research suggests trainees feel unprepared to provide the whole person, humanistic care held as the ideal. This study used an empirically based narrative intervention, the dignity interview, as an…

Humanistic doctor-patient interaction has been measured for eight years using the Global Patient Assessment (GPA) tool in the national osteopathic clinical skills medical licensure examination. Standardized patients (SPs) apply the GPA tool to rate examinees' competence on doctor-patient communication, interpersonal skills, and…

The decision making process is central to the practice of a clinician and has traditionally been described in terms of the hypothetico-deductive model. More recently, models adapted from cognitive psychology, such as the dual process and script theories have proved useful in explaining patterns of practice not consistent with purely cognitive…

The feedback sandwich technique-make positive comments; provide critique; end with positive comments-is commonly recommended to feedback givers despite scant evidence of its efficacy. These two studies (N = 20; N = 350) of written peer feedback with third-year medical students on clinical patient note-writing assignments indicate that students…

Previous research has shown that repeated retrieval with written tests produces superior long-term retention compared to repeated study. However, the degree to which this increased retention transfers to clinical application has not been investigated. In addition, increased retention obtained through written testing has not been compared to other…

Public and professional concern about health care quality, safety and efficiency is growing. Continuing education, knowledge translation, patient safety and quality improvement have made concerted efforts to address these issues. However, a coordinated and integrated effort across these domains is lacking. This article explores and discusses the…

Rapid expansion in scientific knowledge, changes in medical practice, and greater demands from patients and society necessitate reform of the medical curriculum. In recognition of this, medical educators across the world have recommended the adoption of competence-based education. This is intended to increase the rigour and relevance of the…