The role of clinical electives Richard Hays, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Bond University, Queensland, Australia Tarun Sen Gupta, School of Medicine & Dentistry, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia Roger Worthington, School of Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK The post of Clinical Electives Coordinator becomes vacant and is advertised internally. In considering whether or not to apply, here are ten reflective questions you may want to consider. • What is the role of the traditional clinical elective in basic medical education? The term ‘clinical elective’ is used to describe several different kinds of placements. Educators and students like flexibility in basic medical education, and this is often provided through opportunities for students to choose a placement in a clinical speciality and a location of their choice. This may be about exploring possible career choices, strengthening basic clinical skills in a particular context, or gaining experience in a different hospital, health care system or part of the world. The traditional clinical elective is an opportunity for final- year students to choose more or less any kind of placement, often during the final few weeks of the programme. A substantial proportion of students choose an international experience. • Should all students be offered a clinical elective opportunity? If the curriculum design includes a clinical elective, then students will be looking forward to the ‘rite of passage’ taken by their predecessors. If performance on core assessments has been sound, an elective can be a wonderful ‘capstone’ experience. On the other hand, a small number of students may have identified weaknesses that would be addressed better through a local, intensively supervised, placement that increases the chance of remediating the weakness prior to joining the workforce. Hence, some medical schools use the term ‘Clinical Elective ⁄ Corrective’ to describe the placement: an elective for those who have clearly achieved graduate outcomes and a remediation placement for those who are not quite there yet. Many schools have abandoned elective placements, however, particularly the longer, relatively free-choice placements, at a time when the curriculum is pressured by curriculum crowding or programme shortening and funding shortfall: in these situations a clinical elective may be an unaffordable luxury. 1 • What are the educational strengths of the traditional clinical elective model? Flexibility is sound because at least in theory it supports the development of self-directed, adult learning. Medical graduates Points to ponder Ó 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2013; 10: 199–201 199