The clinical years of medical school provide an experiential learning format. There is far less classroom learning. It is imperative that students be there when things are happening. Students who are not present, or quickly available, lose the experience of responding to rapidly changing clinical situations, and thus, lose the learning that comes from the experience.
Clinical medicine requires much more than a growing body of factual information.
The individuals and families that students will be caring for may or may not have the resources or desire to do what the student and the patient care team think is best for them. Physicians must learn to work in this context. Discovering one's capacity to work effectively with other health care professionals and with patients and their families in the face of uncertainty, fatigue, or differing views of what should be done is a dimension of education many medical students have not previously experienced. What follows are some general comments regarding the transition to learning in the clinical settings. It is impossible to describe succinctly in a short space all that is expected of students during their professional development.