Development of reflective practitioners: an experience in the preservice medical training through clinical simulation

Abstract

In the research presented below we analyze a practical experience developed in the initial doctor training at the University of Cantabria. This experience involves the implementation of clinical simulations and subsequent reflections, called “debriefings”, between teachers and students, in which students train themselves in quasi-real environments for deploying the knowledge, skills and attitudes that this performance would imply in a real situation. We have used a qualitative methodology in order to give voice to the main participants in the experience, teachers and students, believing that they contain some of the keys for improvement and change, and finally claiming a greater participation and management of students in university issues in which they are involved. Some of the most noteworthy findings are: the need to promote training experiences, in which students are actively involved, directly related with the working world to which they are directed; the need for a substantial change in the relationship between teacher and student; the educational value of error and, above all, the development of activities to help future practitioners to develop the culture of reflection, understood as a way of promoting lifelong learning processes and a type of professional able to adapt themselve to a work environment and a society characterized by uncertainty.

Keywords

• formación inicial
• titulación de medicina
• aprendizaje experiencial
• profesional reflexivo
• simulación clínica
• debriefing