Background
In response to the national accreditation requirements, Alexandria Faculty of Medicine has implemented an integrated competency-based curriculum. However, the reform minimally affected the practical year which still lacks clear learning objectives and assessment methods. This study aims at exploring house officers' and junior residents' formal and informal learning experiences during the practical year and how they relate to the national competencies.
Methods
Based on social constructivism epistemology this qualitative research included focus groups and personal interviews with a total of 22 house officers and junior residents from four different training and workplace locations in Egypt. The participants provided personal incident narratives about their formal and informal learning experiences during the practical year. We applied qualitative framework analysis to all narratives using Atlas Ti software program and conducted a narrative analysis of one exemplar.
Results
We identified a total of 51 narratives taking place in 9 different hospital and geographic locations. The learning experience was shaped by other facilitators/ barriers including personal interest/ disinterest, gender, training location and relation with residents and peers. Participants highly valued formal learning and perceived informal learning as a burden rather than an opportunity.
Conclusions
Not only did house officers and junior residents feel best prepared for the clinical and procedural skills but they also valued them more than the other skills and competencies of the National Academic Reference Standards which reflects the hidden curriculum. Informal learning in the workplace was neither recognized nor appreciated it was rather taken for granted or “invisible".