The relationship between medical student learning opportunities and preparedness for practice: a questionnaire study

BACKGROUND: Alongside providing a knowledge base and practical skills, undergraduate medical education must prepare graduates to immediately begin practice as qualified doctors. A significant challenge is to provide safe learning opportunities that will optimise students’ preparedness to start work. This study examined UK graduates’ preparedness for clinical practice, and their exposure to real-life and simulated immediate care scenarios during final year placements. METHOD: A questionnaire measuring students’ perceived preparedness, and their exposure to immediate care scenarios, was distributed to all new Foundation Year 1 doctors (F1s) attending an induction session in one region of the UK. RESULTS: 356 F1s responded to the questionnaire (91% response rate; 89% of cohort) and data from 344 graduates of UK medical schools were analysed. Respondents were generally prepared for practice, but many reported few ‘hands-on’ experiences of providing immediate care during final year placements (a median of 1–2 experiences). Those who had 1–2 experiences reported no greater preparedness for acute management than those reporting no experience. Several exposures are necessary for a significant increase in perceived preparedness. Real-life experience was a better predictor of preparedness than simulated practice. CONCLUSIONS: Gaps still remain in medical students’ acute care experience, with a direct relationship to their perceived preparedness. The format and facilitation of placements may need to be addressed in order to enhance the quality of experience during final year. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1472-6920-14-223) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.