. 2023 Jul 30;7(4):e10899. doi: 10.1002/aet2.10899

TABLE 1.

Excerpts and comments demonstrating affective reactions to clinical experiences and appreciation for student/faculty engagement.

	Excerpts from discussion board posts	Comments from students about their experience with the discussion board
Affective reactions to clinical experiences	“It's really hard to perform a bedside ultrasound on a patient and find that there is no intrauterine pregnancy. Breaking this news in real time can be very difficult. I think my attending did a great job at approaching each case with empathy and tactfulness, which I hope to emulate moving forward.” “I saw a need for help with chest compressions as one of the providers was tiring, and once I began, immediately felt a surge of adrenaline as I realized I was solely responsible for her blood flow, and thus any organ damage she may experience (if only for a minute). It was exhausting. Within 45 seconds my whole body ached, and 2 minutes could not come soon enough. When it came time for the pulse check, I felt my heart beat hammering in my whole body.” “It led to a mixture of emotions—I felt anxious about making sure that I didn't make any mistakes in a crucial moment, I felt excited to be directly involved in such acute care, and I felt concern for the patient.”	“It gave me the chance to stop and reflect on all the new experiences I was having … I looked back at the discussion board posts, and it reminded me of the strong feelings and reactions that I had had but since forgotten. It reminded me of what I ultimately find meaningful in medicine.” “It was very validating because I felt like my ED shifts were pretty emotionally taxing …” “It was helpful to hear what other students were experiencing and how they were feeling. As this was very early in the clinical year, it helped contextualize my own experience and make me a bit more comfortable talking about things that had happened.” “I thought writing those posts were great because it was an emotional outlet for the (sometimes disturbing) things that I saw on MCY …”
Appreciation for supportive faculty/student engagement	“I think this is a great, very actionable tip that I can start to try to incorporate into my flow.” “This was definitely a challenge for me as well. I found myself having to return to the room once I realized there was something important I didn't ask, or an exam maneuver I should have done.” “I agree this was a great experience. I was also very grateful I had the help of a teammate, and realized how reassuring it is to have someone to consult with during these time sensitive situations!”	“It was validating that the faculty and students either related to what I wrote or gave me advice on how you cope.” “Dr. X supported me … especially on the discussion board. She replied in a timely fashion to our confusions or unique encounters … and pushed us to think more deeply, and then shed light on our reflections.” “The big thing for me was the faculty replies that were so thoughtful and made me feel better.” “Reading the posts from my classmates was a unique opportunity to hear their perspectives. We posted mandatory reflections at the end of each clerkship, but we had never posted multiple, real‐time reflections in a span of a week. Reading their posts made me realize I wanted to have more conversations with my peers about what we were seeing on the wards.”

Excerpts from discussion board posts

Comments from students about their experience with the discussion board

Affective reactions to clinical experiences

“It's really hard to perform a bedside ultrasound on a patient and find that there is no intrauterine pregnancy. Breaking this news in real time can be very difficult. I think my attending did a great job at approaching each case with empathy and tactfulness, which I hope to emulate moving forward.”

“I saw a need for help with chest compressions as one of the providers was tiring, and once I began, immediately felt a surge of adrenaline as I realized I was solely responsible for her blood flow, and thus any organ damage she may experience (if only for a minute). It was exhausting. Within 45 seconds my whole body ached, and 2 minutes could not come soon enough. When it came time for the pulse check, I felt my heart beat hammering in my whole body.”

“It led to a mixture of emotions—I felt anxious about making sure that I didn't make any mistakes in a crucial moment, I felt excited to be directly involved in such acute care, and I felt concern for the patient.”

“It gave me the chance to stop and reflect on all the new experiences I was having … I looked back at the discussion board posts, and it reminded me of the strong feelings and reactions that I had had but since forgotten. It reminded me of what I ultimately find meaningful in medicine.”

“It was very validating because I felt like my ED shifts were pretty emotionally taxing …”

“It was helpful to hear what other students were experiencing and how they were feeling. As this was very early in the clinical year, it helped contextualize my own experience and make me a bit more comfortable talking about things that had happened.”

“I thought writing those posts were great because it was an emotional outlet for the (sometimes disturbing) things that I saw on MCY …”

Appreciation for supportive faculty/student engagement

“I think this is a great, very actionable tip that I can start to try to incorporate into my flow.”

“This was definitely a challenge for me as well. I found myself having to return to the room once I realized there was something important I didn't ask, or an exam maneuver I should have done.”

“I agree this was a great experience. I was also very grateful I had the help of a teammate, and realized how reassuring it is to have someone to consult with during these time sensitive situations!”

“It was validating that the faculty and students either related to what I wrote or gave me advice on how you cope.”

“Dr. X supported me … especially on the discussion board. She replied in a timely fashion to our confusions or unique encounters … and pushed us to think more deeply, and then shed light on our reflections.”

“The big thing for me was the faculty replies that were so thoughtful and made me feel better.”

“Reading the posts from my classmates was a unique opportunity to hear their perspectives. We posted mandatory reflections at the end of each clerkship, but we had never posted multiple, real‐time reflections in a span of a week. Reading their posts made me realize I wanted to have more conversations with my peers about what we were seeing on the wards.”