Reflection on Learning in the Operating Theatre

Medical students spend time during their course attending the operating theatre. This forms part of their surgical studies. This paper reports on the first completed research project to empirically examine students' experiences of teaching and learning in this setting. A multi-method interpretive case study strategy focused on students' experiences in one Australian university was used. This included in-depth interviews with students and surgeons, observations in the operating theatre, group interviews and a survey with students. The paper firstly describes the operating theatre as a complex and highly charged workplace and outlines the challenges for students' learning. It then examines the strategies students use to learn in this context. The paper argues that students who report getting the most out of their experiences successfully manage their learning in three domains: the physical environment and the emotional impact of surgery as work; educational tasks and learning objectives, and the social relations of working in the operating theatre. The paper highlights the differences in how students reflect on their experiences to turn them into learning. The models of learning from experience and of reflection in learning developed by Boud and colleagues (Boud Keogh & Walker, 1985; Boud & Walker, 1991) are used as frameworks for understanding students' responses and for suggesting ways in which learning in professional contexts can be enhanced.