No abstract

Patient perceptions of students' involvement in their obstetrics and gynaecology care are mainly positive. Satisfaction levels differ with the gender of the student, the age of the patient, the location of care and for those for whom English is their first language. Attention must be paid to informing patients of the presence and possible level of interaction of students in their care.

The range of experiences on which students reflected was appropriate. The information obtained from the emergent themes has been useful for programme development. At the end of the process students were still not reflecting at the level of integration. This affirms that reflectivity is a skill that develops throughout life. Evaluating the level of reflection achieved and discussing this explicitly with the student may be instrumental in helping the student develop his or her reflective capacity further.

Medical students' perceptions of their learning environment in obstetrics and gynaecology were not influenced by the geographical site of delivery or their gender but were positively related to higher academic achievement. Providing appropriate academic and clinical support systems have been put in place the education of medical students can be extended outside major hospitals and into outer metropolitan and rural communities without any apparent reduction in perceptions of the quality of their learning environment.