Clinical learning spaces: Dimensions and character

As many healthcare practices are largely enacted and learned in clinical workplaces, this chapter focuses on the nature of those spaces within workplaces that shape student learning. Examination of the fine-grained texture of clinical workplaces in my doctoral research illuminated a multiplicity of complex and fluid learning spaces within clinical workplaces where physiotherapy students’ practice capabilities were developed. Four key dimensions of clinical workplaces were found to significantly influence and shape student learning. These aspects are: 1. Situational (for example, the layout of the hospital and resource provision) 2. Relational (for example, patients) 3. Cultural (for example, workplace hierarchies) 4. Temporal (for example, the fast-paced nature of clinical workplaces). Clinical learning spaces formed in spaces of fusion and intersection between the real-life experiences and challenging situations encountered in clinical practice, and the dispositions, experiences and responses of the physiotherapy students encountering them. The nature and character of these clinical learning spaces are portrayed in this chapter.