Table 1
Question topic guide for the focus group discussions
|
1) |
Do you think the rotation in the intensive care unit was a positive or negative experience for you? |
|
2) |
If you think about when you were walking around with the ICU team, could you make sense of what you were seeing and hearing? |
|
3) |
How did you feel going into the ICU for the first time? |
|
4) |
The next thing I’d like you to think about is; during the rotation, did you feel like an insider (a member of the team), or an outsider (an observer)? |
|
5) |
Thinking back to what we’re discussed so far, do you think that the ICU rotation was different to other clinical rotations you have done? |
|
6) |
We have had students who, after attending 2–3 days of their ICU rotation, have not appeared for the rest of the 2 weeks. Is there anything about the ICU rotation that would make a student less likely to attend? |
|
7) |
Do any of you have anything else to add that you think is relevant to these dicussions? |
Table 2
Student learning in intensive care medicine: the three phases of the clerkship and associated sub-themes
|
Clerkship phase |
Associated sub-themes |
|---|---|
|
1) Pre-clerkship |
Perceived lack of familiarity/ complexity and severity of illness* Perceived uselessness during clerkship* Difficulty preparing for the clerkship* Personality of the student |
|
2) Early clerkship |
Initial interaction with ICU staff* Students’ sense of belonging Structure/organization of the clerkship* Level of guidance available* |
|
3) Learning throughout the clerkship |
Involvement in patient care* Adjustment in learning method* Value of observing and experiencing* Reciprocal dynamics between student and learning environment Students’ self-learning activities(personal agency) |
*Subthemes for which there was a reported difference between ICU and non-ICU clerkships
Fig. 1
The sequential workplace model which proposes a chronological basis for student learning during a clinical clerkship (Factors influencing the three stages of the clerkship that emerged in focus group discussions are shown in the grey boxes. Some factors are in addition to those quoted in the text. Suggested interventions to optimize these factors are shown in the left-sided column)
