ArticleBMC medical education2026
Factors affecting medical students' attendance on clinical attachments: a qualitative focus group study.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent literature has reported declining attendance among certain medical student cohorts. The limited existing studies primarily explore attendance at lectures but not attendance on clinical attachments, which are mandatory for satisfactory student progression. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing medical students' decision to attend learning activities on clinical attachments, to optimise attendance and to formulate recommedations with respect to educational outcomes and the student experience.
methodsNine focus groups with clinical year medical students were conducted at a UK medical school, based at three different hospital sites (n = 39). Thematic analysis of transcripts was performed (NVivo Software V14.23.2).
resultsKey factors which influenced medical students' decision to attend clinical attachments were grouped into 6 main themes: (1) student factors, (2) learning activity factors, (3) assessment pressure, (4) organisational factors, (5) tutor factors, and (6) attendance monitoring. Fourteen sub-themes were then identified under these key themes. Specific factors that encouraged attendance included clustered learning activities that maximised student time efficiency and high tutor interactivity with an awareness of student-specific learning outcomes. Factors that discouraged attendance included a prioritisation of students for self-directed learning largely driven by exam pressure and a belief amongst some students that attendance on clinical attachments may not correlate with exam performance. Attendance may be optimised through clustering timetabled learning activities, transparently balancing self-study and timetabled activities, increased faculty development initiatives and further optimising university assessments to emphasise the skills acquired through patient exposure.
conclusionsThis study highlights the heterogenous decision-making relating to attendance among medical students on clinical attachments. The data presented may help to explain the declining attendance trends on clinical attachments observed in certain cohorts. Future research could quantitatively investigate the effect of specific recommendations to optimise both attendance and the student experience.
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.