'What … you can't tell left from right?' Medical students' experiences in making laterality decisions.

This study challenges normative expectations that LRD is an effortless task for all. Individuals who are challenged in LRD must engage in a complex conscious process to determine right from left. For the most part, this process is relatively effortless. However, the context of being a medical student can impose extra demands and heightens the risk associated with potential error. Medical education needs to respond by raising the profile of this challenge, with which many of our medical students are confronted, and by extending support to assist them in the interests of safe patient care.