A change of mind: Error motivation is shaped by error perceptions in different learning environments

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Healthcare Professional Development
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Traditional medical education culture often involves
• shame and blame
• regarding errors, hindering learning and skill improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore medical students' and newly graduated doctors' perceptions of errors.
• To investigate how error perceptions influence motivation and engagement in learning.
• To assess the impact of learning contexts and expertise levels on error perception.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to identify key themes.
• Development of a 27-question survey based on identified themes.
• Distribution of the survey to medical students (years 1, 4, 6) and newly graduated doctors in Denmark.

Main Results:

• A majority of 541 respondents anticipated making errors and found them motivating.
• Psychologically safe environments enhanced error perception as learning opportunities and increased risk willingness.
• Respondents focused on specific errors, while supervisors focused on error handling; risk willingness increased from year 6 to PGY-1 in safe clinical settings.

Conclusions:

• Psychologically safe learning environments are crucial for mitigating the
• shame and blame
• culture surrounding medical errors.
• Trainees generally value errors as learning experiences, but specific feedback is often lacking.
• Findings highlight the interplay between errors, learning activities, and supervisor support in medical education.