title: Enhancing the connection between the classroom and the clinical workplace: A systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although medical students are increasingly exposed to clinical experiences as part of their training, these often occur parallel with, rather than connected to, their classroom-based learning experiences. Additionally, students seem to struggle with spontaneously making the connection between these spheres of their training themselves. Therefore, this systematic review synthesized the existing evidence about educational interventions that aim to enhance the connection between learning in the classroom and its application in the workplace.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic databases (AMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, Medline, RDRB, PsycINFO and WoS) were screened for quantitative and qualitative studies investigating educational interventions that referenced a connection between the classroom and workplace-based experiences within undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate medical education.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three types of interventions were identified: classroom to workplace interventions, workplace to classroom interventions, and interventions involving multiple connections between the two settings. Most interventions involved a tool (e. g. video, flow chart) or a specific process (e. g. linking patient cases with classroom-based learning content, reflecting on differences between what was learned and how it works in practice) which aimed to enhance the connection between the two settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Small-scale interventions can bring classroom learning and workplace practice into closer alignment. Such interventions appear to be the necessary accompaniments to curricular structures, helping bridge the gap between classroom learning and workplace experience. This paper documents examples that may serve to assist medical educators in connecting the classroom and the workplace.
authors.affiliation: Academic Center for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Sanne.peters@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Sanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Clarebout
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diemers
authors.affiliation: Academic Center for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Delvaux
authors.affiliation: Education, Group Health and Wellbeing, University Colleges Leuven-Limburg UCLL, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verburgh
authors.affiliation: Academic Center for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aertgeerts
authors.affiliation: Academic Center for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roex
keywords: Integration; Systematic review; Transfer