Lived Clinical Learning Experiences of Medical Students: A Qualitative Approach

Introduction: many studies have been conducted regarding the settings of clinical medical education and its problems, but clinical learning experiences of medical students are less studied as a whole.The aim of this study was to explore, describe and interpret medical students' perception about clinical learning in order to obtain a deep insight about their clinical learning experience. Methods: This study was conducted on phenomenological approach. Two focus groups of 20 students were hold. Data gathering continued until saturation. Transcriptions were analyzed using the Van Manen procedures. Results: Data were categorized into 11 themes: nature of clinical learning, not belonging to medical team, program-induced anxiety, communication between learner and teacher, variety of contexts and resources for clinical learning, putting potential abilities into action, discovery of self in clinical setting, conflict between work and learning, dependency, and lack of prospectus in clinical learning. Conclusion: Although, clinical learning is a complex phenomenon, this study discovered its main aspects and elements. Findings implied that clinical learning directs students toward medical professionalism. Application of results and conducting more research about discovered themes in order to assess problems are recommended.