Health care systems internationally are under strain, facing increasing demands with limited resources [
18,
19]. Although patients have shorter hospital stays, inpatients are sicker and healthcare has become more complex and expensive [
20]. Short staffing and overcrowding are often features of the environments in which doctors learn [
21]. Capping of working hours for doctors-in-training, driven by concerns for doctor wellbeing and patient safety, has resulted in a move to shift work and fewer total hours worked, raising concerns about unintended consequences for learning and delivery of care [
22]. Clinical workplaces are complex, dynamic systems in which learning emerges from non-linear interactions within a network of related factors and activities [
23,
24]. The key components of CLEs include appropriate opportunities to learn through practice, supervision, assessment and feedback, social support in relationships with consultants, peers, nurses and allied healthcare professionals, working hours and conditions, and resources [
25,
26]. Delivery of patient care, adherence to working hours legislation, focus on patient safety and resource management are activities which may compete with, as well as generate, learning in clinical workplaces. Learning, clinical environment and working conditions are closely intertwined. Working under poor conditions is linked to trainee stress and burnout, which may impact learning, humanism and professional identity formation [
11,
27]. These factors may impact each other in unanticipated ways with unintended consequences. Those tasked with the design and delivery of postgraduate medical education and training need to understand the relationship between the processes of medical workplace learning and these contextual elements in order to optimise conditions for learning. This review aims to produce a detailed description of these relationships grounded in the literature and workplace learning theory.