Performance of residents serving as clinical teachers: a student-based assessment

Little is known about the competences of residents as clinical teachers in African health care institutions.

We evaluated the clinical teaching skills of internal medicine residents from the perspective of medical students in a tertiary teaching institution in Africa.

We used the augmented Stanford Faculty Development Program Questionnaire, which has evidence of validity and reliability. To avoid a Hawthorne effect, students completed the questionnaire anonymously and confidentially after clinical teaching sessions by residents. A minimum score of 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 was defined a priori as possession of good clinical teaching skills.

Sixty-four medical students assessed all 20 internal medicine residents in the Department of Medicine, University of Ibadan. Mean performance scores for the domains ranged from 3.07 to 3.66. Residents performed best in creating a good learning climate and worst in the promotion of understanding and retention. Sex of the resident, duration of residency, and rank had no significant impact (.09 < P < .94) on their teaching skills.

Consistent with other observations in the literature, residents' clinical teaching skills were suboptimal, particularly in their ability to promote understanding and retention. To enhance these skills, we recommend the integration of appropriately tailored programs to teach pedagogic skills programs in residency training.