Mental load: helping clinical learners.

BACKGROUND: The quality of an individual's learning is influenced significantly by the quantity of mental processing they are required to manage in a clinical learning situation. Some clinical learning settings require the learner to process high levels of complex knowledge and skills, whilst simultaneously monitoring and responding to challenging social or emotional inputs. This paper introduces the concept of 'cognitive load', its negative impacts upon novice learners in particular, and its real-world implications for teaching and supervision.
METHOD: Narrative review and discussion.
RESULTS: The concept of cognitive load is reviewed, and examples of its application to clinical learning and teaching are provided. Teaching and supervision strategies for managing the cognitive load of learners are presented. DISCUSSION: The clinical teacher has significant capacity to reduce the cognitive load of learners by creating safe and supportive learning environments, establishing trusting relationships with the learner, and implementing structured learning experiences that are designed to support the learner's growth in knowledge, understanding and skills. A threefold focus on the nature of the learning task, the learning environment and the learner's perceptions of these elements, which characterises cognitive load, provides a useful framework for diagnosing poor learning behaviours and maximising learning outcomes. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011.