Emotions and clinical learning in an interprofessional outpatient clinic: a focused ethnographic study

During the last decade, there has been a growing recognition that emotions can be of critical importance for students' learning and cognitive development. The aim of this study was to investigate the self-reported and the observed relationship of: activity-, outcome-, epistemic-, and social emotions' role in students' learning in a clinical interprofessional context. We conducted a focused ethnography study of medical and nursing students' clinical placement in an interprofessional orthopaedic outpatient clinic where the students performed consultations with patients, together. We used content analysis to analyse observational notes and interviews. Two themes were identified. First self-regulated learning with two sub-themes: unexpected incident and reflection. The second theme was cooperative learning with three sub-themes: equality, communication, and role distribution. Participants only reported activating emotions. Negative emotions often occurred when the students together experienced an incongruity between their cognitive capability and the type of task. However, because of the possibility for students to call for a supervisor, the negative activating emotions often, in connection with reflection on the incident, resulted in a positive emotion due to the students' awareness of having acquired new knowledge and capability, and thereby, learning. It is important to be aware of the close interplay between emotions and clinical learning in an interprofessional context. The learning environment must include easy access for supervision.