Transformative medical education: must community-based traineeship experiences be part of the curriculum? A qualitative study

Table 1 Main characteristics of the traineeship experience

		N
Context and motivations for the choice of La Maison Bleue as an traineeship setting	Personal choice	10
	Allocation by a third party	2
	Total	12
Timing of the traineeship	Preclinical only	1
	Residency only	2
	Fellowship only^a	6
	Preclinical AND residency (2 interships)	1
	Clerckship AND residency (2 interships)	2
	Total	12
Traineeship duration^b	0–7 days	5
	8–14 days	3
	15–21 days More than 21 days	3 1
	Total	12

^aThese students (participants in an advanced skills programs in maternal and child health care) are characterized by the fact that they had completed their first two years of residency in family medicine at the time of the traineeship at La Maison Bleue and therefore had their medical license in hand
^bWe note that the duration of the traineeship is a factor that is highly variable depending, for example, on the traineeship program from which the learner came, the time of the year at which the traineeship was completed, or the philosophy of the supervising physician. In fact, none of our 12 participants has the same traineeship arrangements as another. This finding is supported by what key informants said about the organization and general terms and conditions of the traineeships being, in several cases, decided on a case-by-case basis and not documented. Thus, we consider that the number of days of traineeship indicated in Table 1 does not even adequately reflect this variability since, for example, a 5-day traineeship may have been full-time for one or 1 day per week for 5 weeks for the other

ISSN: 1475-9276