Longitudinal Clinical Debrief in an Undergraduate Medical Programme

Explicit teaching of clinical reasoning to medical students can be difficult to achieve, though may be facilitated through structured clinical debrief sessions supporting student discussions of case studies and placement experiences. This study aimed to understand student perceptions of the value of clinical debrief throughout their curriculum.

A scaffolded series of clinical debrief sessions were incorporated into Years 1, 3 and 5 of a 5-year UK undergraduate medical programme. Sessions are increasingly complex across year-levels and continuously improved across academic years according to student feedback. Each session receives student feedback through Likert-scale and open-ended questions on the session and their facilitating tutor, which were consolidated and analysed using descriptive statistics and AI-assisted conceptual content analysis.

From over 8000 responses across the three year-levels and nine academic years, clinical debrief was positively viewed across all cohorts, with increasing perceived value for Year 3 students, though some decrease in perceptions for Year 5 students. Earlier year students emphasised the value for their communication and clinical reasoning skills, while later year students valued the ethical and medico-legal skill development and preparing for practice as a doctor. Tutors across all year levels were perceived highly for their contributions to an inclusive and effective learning environment and reducing professional isolation.

Scaffolded clinical debrief is positively viewed by undergraduate medical students across year levels, with perceived contributions to skill development influenced by year level. Development and implementation of clinical debrief require design aligning to student experiences and expectations, with effective tutor training.