Attending rounds: What do the all-star teachers do?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Teaching
• Faculty Development

Background:

• Effective clinical teaching during inpatient rounds is crucial for trainee development.
• Identifying specific teaching activities that correlate with learner satisfaction is essential for improving medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare teaching activities between highly effective and less effective inpatient teaching attendings.
• To identify key educational practices associated with superior learner satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• 56 attending physicians and 279 trainees participated.
• Trained observers documented educational activities during rounds.
• Trainee satisfaction with teaching was assessed.

Main Results:

• Highly rated attendings performed more teaching activities per patient (2.1 vs. 1.4-1.5).
• Significant differences were observed in patient-specific questions (77% vs. 66-47%), learner-chosen topics (8% vs. 2%), and feedback provision (31% vs. 10-0.1%).

Conclusions:

• Patient-specific teaching, learner-identified topics, and real-time feedback are hallmarks of effective inpatient attendings.
• These findings can inform faculty development initiatives to enhance clinical teaching quality.