Navigating the Complex Student Journey in Health Professions

Fostering a culture of learning excellence requires faculty to innovate around the dimensions of the student experience; learning, administration, and support. The student journey in health professions is multifaceted, moving between multiple and varied settings such as in-class, clinical, and online. Students need to deal with administrative processes in the faculty and the health system, while dealing with the additional burden presented by the always authentic but often toxic work culture in the clinical setting. “Touch and pain points” in the student journey can be identified for optimising the learning experience, even to aspire to a culture of learning excellence. At the root of any progress is the understanding of the student experience to develop better learning strategies, support structures, and administration processes. In this presentation, we will discuss student journey mapping through their degree program. Effective interventions and innovations can then be identified for trial implementation. We will be discussing some of the barriers to mapping, and lessons learnt from our South African context. This presentation is intended for educators, administrators, and researchers interested in improving the student learning experience in health professions. The intended outcome of this short communication is to provide an overview of the student journey in health professions and how student journey mapping can be used to improve learning, support, and administration. Participants will gain an understanding of the benefits of student journey mapping, the challenges of implementation, and the best practices that can lead to successful outcomes.