ArticleThe clinical teacher2025
Shattering the Shield: Embracing Complexity in Undergraduate Medical Education.
Article in The clinical teacher, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- A conducive clinical learning environment in primary care as a wicked problem: A scoping review of enablers, obstacles, and strategies.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2026Article
- Addressing multiple long-term conditions in the undergraduate medical school curriculum: a focus group study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Integrating multimorbidity education into undergraduate medical curriculum: A systematic review.Future healthcare journal · 2025Review
- Learning about Inclusion Health in undergraduate medical education: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMultimorbidity and patient complexity are increasing, yet undergraduate medical education curricula remain dominated by single disease frameworks, where students are often shielded from exposure to this complexity. Why this shielding continues to occur is understandable; however, this may leave graduates feeling underprepared for real-world practice. This study aimed to explore medical students' experiences of encountering, managing and dealing with complexity and to provide informed recommendations for integrating complexity into clinical teaching. METHODOLOGY: Situated within a constructivist paradigm, this qualitative study involved focus groups (n = 4) with fourth- and fifth-year medical students (n = 17) from two Scottish Universities. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
findingsLearners in this study recognised multimorbidity, complex communication and emotionally charged interactions in their definitions of complexity. They described varying levels of exposure to complexity and opportunities to engage meaningfully with complex patients. Students felt that supervisors who shield students from learning opportunities with complex patients, together with a failing healthcare system, were critical limiting factors in their development. Learners emphasised the powerful role of supervisors in their learning experiences, which limited their ability to experiment and learn from productive failure but felt that with guided scaffolding and supervision, teaching and learning in this space could be meaningfully enhanced.
conclusionExposure to and engagement with complex patients offer critical learning opportunities that may allow students to explore and better develop skills in managing complexity. With appropriate scaffolding, students can be empowered to embrace complexity in the clinical learning environment, potentially equipping them to care for complex patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.