Background and Aim

Ensuring that clinical competencies acquired during training are effectively transferred to workplace practice remains a major challenge in competency-based medical education (CBME). Although transfer of learning has been widely studied, limited evidence explains how learner-, educator-, workplace-, and organizational-level factors interact across the continuum of medical education. This ongoing doctoral study aims to identify the determinants of clinical competence transfer and to inform educational management strategies that strengthen workplace learning and faculty development.

Materials and Methods

An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. The qualitative phase comprised semi-structured interviews with residency graduates and clinical educators from a public medical university. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings from both participant groups, together with established transfer-of-learning theories and CBME frameworks, informed the development of a theory-informed questionnaire for medical educators, which subsequently underwent expert content validation. The quantitative phase is currently underway to examine the prevalence and relative importance of the identified factors and to explore the professional development needs of clinical educators.

Results

Preliminary findings indicate that clinical competence transfer is shaped by the interaction of individual, educational, workplace, and organizational factors. Both residency graduates and clinical educators identified authentic clinical participation, graduated autonomy, meaningful feedback, supervision, reflective practice, and a supportive learning climate as key facilitators of transfer. Participants also highlighted barriers including inconsistent workplace supervision, limited opportunities for deliberate practice, resource constraints, and insufficient constructive alignment between intended learning outcomes, teaching, workplace experiences, and assessment. Faculty interviews further emphasized the need for systematic faculty development, stronger educational leadership, and institutional support to sustain effective competence transfer across the medical education continuum.

Conclusions

Optimizing clinical competence transfer requires coordinated educational, organizational, and workplace strategies rather than isolated curricular interventions. These preliminary findings provide an evidence-informed foundation for strengthening curriculum design, faculty development, and educational management in CBME.