Table 1 Synthesis of M-level education outputs, outcomes and impact

Outputs

Successful collaborative work and student’s engagement

Successful formation and support of learning groups that facilitate collaborative peer interaction

[33,34,35]

Perceiving relevance

The perception of relevance to practice leads to engagement

[36,37,38]

Deconstructing knowledge

Questioning the effectiveness of practice and level of criticality that leads to reconstruction of M-level knowledge

[36, 39,40,41,42]

Outcomes

High level critical thinking skills and/or analysis

Locate and understand arguments, relationships, make sound inferences, and warranted conclusions.

[6, 34, 36, 38, 40, 43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50]

High level clinical reasoning skills

Context-bounded cognitive processes used for clinical decision-making that draw on advanced level of knowledge

[6, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 46, 50,51,52,53]

High confidence and motivation to practice

Developing senses of efficacy and advocacy that motivate graduates for clinical practice

[6, 34, 38, 41, 44, 47, 54, 55]

High level communication skills

Effective communication with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare graduates

[33, 36, 44, 49, 52, 56, 57]

Becoming lifelong learner

Motivation for professional development and learning from practice

[36, 39, 43, 44, 47, 48, 52, 58]

Enhanced sense of autonomy

Ability to function without direct support

[36, 42, 43, 52]

Enhanced career progression

Getting promoted or movement to advanced level career

[6, 38, 39, 41, 44, 47, 49, 54, 57, 59,60,61,62]

Impact

Management complex patient presentation

Understanding complex patient presentation, creative non-routine practice, understanding healthcare system, and demonstrating flexibility in role choices

[42, 45, 56, 60, 63]

Assuming research, leadership and management positions

Driving changes in practice and service delivery and supporting clinical-based research

[56, 57, 64]

Assuming teaching roles

Collegial teaching duties, supporting peer’s learning, and involvement in university education

[35, 36, 41, 47, 50, 52, 64, 65]

Reduced direct patient care

Assuming more managerial, research, and teaching duties at the expense of direct patient care

[6, 43]

Increased retention rate

Increased motivation to stay in clinical practice

[35, 44, 50]

Patient Care

Describing change to direct patient care routine like earlier recovery and ability to self-manage

[49, 52, 65, 66]