ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how deliberate practice theory can inform the development of this environment so that expertise is fostered based on the description in the case study of the professional learning environment in which physicians are trained. Extensive practice and experience in a professional domain is, according to the theory of deliberate practice, important but not sufficient to reach expert levels of performance. With this theory, the nature of the practice activities engaged in plays a decisive role in the development of expertise. From the descriptions of deliberate practice, the cognitive mechanisms by which expert performance is developed and the resources required to engage in deliberate practice, recommendations can be deduced for designing learning environments that promote the acquisition of expertise. Higher awareness of the role of the information in expertise development and more effort and opportunity to follow-up on patients are needed to enhance reflection on the course of disease and the decisions made.
