Sense made common: how to add value to early experience

Authentic early experiences (AEEs) have become commonplace in medical curricula. There is a wealth of evidence that students enjoy these experiences, despite significant diversity in context, content and intended purpose between different medical schools. Positive evaluations have rarely explained how or why particular outcomes are achieved, or if unpredicted consequences occurred. AEE is a form of experiential learning, but experience alone is not sufficient for useful learning. Students need support to maximise the potential learning from AEE and minimise undesirable consequences.

This article makes practical suggestions for clinical teachers to add value to AEE. It is based on research that used multiple qualitative methods to further understand AEE. The research sought to address two questions: (1) how and why do students construct useful knowledge and meaning-making from AEE; and (2) how and why do students make AEE work for them? The author draws on her perspective and experience as a practising clinician and clinical teacher to interpret and practically apply research findings.

Clinical teachers can add value to AEE through both actions in the workplace and interactions with their local medical school(s). Suggestions are made to: actively manage expectations; deliberately create legitimacy; proactively manage risk; constructively discuss differences; model connectedness; and develop a consensus understanding of what is 'allowed'.

All of these suggestions are about 'making sense common'. Clinical teachers are encouraged to use questions accompanying the main text to make a self-assessment of their current practice and consider potential changes to provide additional value for students during AEE.