Related Experiment Videos
What do medicine clerkship preceptors do best?
Kathleen M Mazor1, Sarah L Stone, Michele Carlin
1Meyers Primary Care Institute, Fallon Healthcare System, and assistant professor of medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Kathleen.Mazor@umassmed.edu
Summary
Students rated outpatient attending physicians higher than inpatient physicians or residents. This highlights areas for faculty development in clinical teaching skills, benefiting medical education.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Clinical Teaching
- Physician Training
Background:
- Student ratings of preceptors are crucial for feedback and evaluation in medical education.
- Understanding differences in preceptor effectiveness is vital for improving training.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare student ratings of clinical teaching skills among inpatient attending physicians, inpatient residents, and outpatient attending physicians.
- To identify relative strengths and weaknesses in preceptor teaching.
Main Methods:
- 268 students provided 1,680 ratings of preceptors over three academic years.
- Ratings were aggregated by preceptor type (inpatient attending, inpatient resident, outpatient attending).
- Differences in mean ratings were evaluated, and strengths/weaknesses were identified by rank ordering items.
Main Results:
- Outpatient attending physicians received higher ratings than inpatient attending physicians or residents.
- Identified strengths included showing interest in teaching, respecting student opinions, and availability.
- Identified weaknesses included developing students' physical examination and interviewing skills.
Conclusions:
- Student ratings effectively identify group-level strengths and weaknesses among preceptors.
- These findings can inform faculty development priorities in medical education.
- Ratings provide valuable data for enhancing clinical teaching quality.