Learning environments are a significant determinant of student behaviour, achievement and satisfaction. In this article we use students' reflective essays to identify key features of the learning environment that contributed to positive and transformative learning experiences. We explore the relationships between these features, the students' sense of safety in the learning environment (LE), the resulting learning challenge with which they could cope and their positive reports of the experience itself. Our students worked in a unique simulation of General Practice, the Safe and Effective Clinical Outcomes clinic, where they consistently reported positive experiences of learning. We analysed 77 essays from 2011 and 2012 using an immersion/crystallisation framework. Half of the students referred to the safety of the learning environment spontaneously. Students described deep learning experiences in their simulated consultations. Students valued features of the LE which contributed to a psychologically safe environment. Together with the provision of constructive support and immediate, individualised feedback this feeling of safety assisted students to find their own way through clinical dilemmas. These factors combine to make students feel relaxed and able to take on challenges that otherwise would have been overwhelming. Errors became learning opportunities and students could practice purposefully. We draw on literature from medical education, educational psychology and sociology to interpret our findings. Our results demonstrate relationships between safe learning environments, learning challenge and powerful learning experiences, justifying close attention to the construction of learning environments to promote student learning, confidence and motivation.

A shared vision of care is an aspirational concept which is difficult to articulate but with attentiveness, sustained authentic engagement and being driven by values, it should evolve amongst the core participants of a 'Community of Clinical Practice'.

New Zealand is considering a change in law to permit euthanasia and/or assisted dying (EAD). We reviewed 20 years of research to investigate New Zealanders' attitudes towards EAD, including those of health professionals. A systematic search was conducted using relevant databases. We identified 21 quantitative and 5 qualitative studies. For quantitative data, descriptive analyses were used to examine any demographic patterns that influenced attitudes. We reviewed the circumstances under which people think that EAD should be accessible, and which forms of EAD they support. All public attitude studies reported that the majority (68%) of respondents support EAD. There are few statistically significant demographic associations with attitudes toward EAD; exceptions include religiousity, educational attainment, and some ethnic groups. Health professionals' attitudes varied by speciality. Qualitative research was analysed for reoccurring themes; 'feeling like a burden' was evident across most studies. We conclude from the quantitative research that public attitudes are stable and a majority are open to legislative change. However, the qualitative research reveals the complexity of the issue and indicates a need for careful consideration of any proposed law changes. It is unclear what safeguards people expect if the law changes. We found little research involving vulnerable and marginalised populations.

Burgeoning numbers of patients with long-term conditions requiring complex care have placed pressures on healthcare systems around the world. In New Zealand, complex patients are increasingly being managed within the community. The Community of Clinical Practice concept identifies the network of carers around an individual patient whose central participants share a common purpose of increasing that patient's well-being. We conducted a focused ethnography of nine communities of clinical practice in one general practice setting using participant observation and interviews, and examined the patients' medical records. Data were analysed using a template organising style. Communities of clinical practice were interprofessional and included informal supports, services and non-professionals. These communities of clinical practice mediate practice, utilising informal networks to cut across boundaries, bureaucracy, mandated clinical pathways and professional jurisdictions to achieve optimum patient-centred care. Communities of clinical practice's repertoires are characterised by care and are driven by the moral imperative to care. They do 'whatever it takes', although there is a cost to this form of care. Well-functioning communities of clinical practice use patient's well-being as a guiding light and, by sharing a vision of care through trusting and respectful relationships, avoid fragmentation of care. The Community of Clinical Practice (CoCP) model is particularly useful in accounting for the 'messiness' of community-based care.

In New Zealand, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide or euthanasia even with consent is unlawful. The introduction of a third Bill on assisted dying to the House of Representatives following a high-profile court case afforded an opportunity for examining how assisted dying was discussed in the public sphere. In this article, we report on a discourse analysis of a selection of social media to illustrate the ways in which citizens participate in the voluntary euthanasia debate. The volume of social media posts that made up our data set suggests that the legalisation of assisted dying is a highly topical and deeply salient societal issue. Social media postings represent the voices of ordinary citizens who may not participate in formal public consultation processes. Based on our analysis, the assignment of binary conclusions about public opinion is simplistic and fails to adequately represent the intricacies of public debate. Contributors’ posts reveal deeply held sociocultural values, as well as tensions about the relationship between citizens and the apparatus of government.