Bedside teaching: everybody's but nobody's responsibility

Evidence shows dwindling levels of bedside teaching for medical students in the UK, especially in district general hospitals. Lack of individual responsibility has resulted in disengagement in teaching. Based on a quality improvement project (QIP) at a District General Hospital, we suggest some ways this could be addressed. We suggest here that harnessing support from the medical education lead, incentivizing teaching, allocating student-junior doctor groups to harbor personal responsibility, providing a supportive framework, and educating about barriers to teaching can all be used to develop an effective teaching program.