Domains of effective teaching process students perspectives in two medical schools

There has been little systematic investigation of student belief about the characteristics of the optimum process for clinical bedside teaching.

The intent was to identify the most important characteristics of the bedside teaching experience from the perspective of two groups of students, one from Oman and the other from Canada.

Students were asked to complete a questionnaire about their concept of the ideal process of bedside teaching. Their answers were analyzed using factor analysis.

Answers provided by the students was consistent with the presence of six domains. These corresponded to Preparation, Introduction, Experience, Summary, Explanation, and Conclusion. 'Preparation' involves consideration of the patient and the knowledge level of the learners, 'Introduction' involves effective communication, and 'Experience' means the need for the students to be actively involved in the history and physical examination. The remaining three domains deal with the need to provide a summary and elaboration as well as advice and feedback. These 6 factors explained 60% of the total variance.

While these areas still need to be defined more closely, the application of these six domains to the structure of the bedside teaching experience is likely to result in improved student learning.