INTERACTION
General impressions/observations (Who is interacting with whom)	Description of interaction -medical students interact with patients to learn about communication skills -medical students interact with clinicians to learn about clinical skills, such as how to do an ultrasonic scan -medical students interact with nurses and staff to clarify things and ask for guidance -medical students interact with pair to discuss their case, prepare for their case report, and exchange opinions on a case
Lots of interactions took place between different parties
Medical students vs. patients Medical students vs. nurses Medical students vs. clinicians Medical students vs. staff Medical students within their pair
Elements, features and special notes Support from peers: Miss Manda says she wouldn’t start talking with patients until her partner is there. This is because 1) she doesn’t want her peer to feel lag behind and 2) she would be more supported if two persons are doing things together to support each other Support from staff: As Miss Manda was scheduled with a patient to talk with to practice history-taking, the nurse-in-charge gave her heads up saying that ‘that is a very angry lady. I’m not sure if she agrees to talk with you’. In fact, it happens that the patient said she was too tired to talk with medical students. I feel this is important information as the head-up prepares inexperienced medical students mentally, so they would not be too sad or self-blaming if knowing this Miss Mandy told me things like this happen, but not very often. Generally, patients are very supportive Unpredictable elements: I agree with Miss Manda that she has not done too much this morning. She was scheduled with another patient to talk with. But the first time she went in, the patient was not there. The second time she went in, the patient went out for a walk. The third time she went in, the patient was discharged already Different institutional contexts: Miss Manda told me that clinical placements experiences in different hospitals and institutions can be very different. For example, some hospitals can be more organised in terms of medical students’ allocation and supervision, some not. This is the same for GP clinics. She told me that some GP placements can be very rigid, such as taking about students’ feedback for the whole afternoon, whereas other GP clinics can be more flexible (some GPs even don’t show up). There are lots of differences in terms of students’ experiences depending on different institutional contexts