How clinical teaching teams deal with educational change: 'we just do it'

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Organizational Change
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Program directors lead educational change in clinical settings.
• Successful change requires considering the entire clinical teaching team.
• Understanding team dynamics is crucial for curriculum implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To gain insight into how clinical teaching teams manage curriculum change.
• To explore the organization of curriculum change processes.
• To understand the implementation of curriculum change in daily practice.

Main Methods:

• Explorative qualitative semi-structured interview study.
• Six clinical teaching teams (18 participants) interviewed.
• Thematic analysis used for data structuring.

Main Results:

• Positive factors: shared commitment, reinvention, ownership, supportive structure, open culture.
• Negative factors: resistance, behavior change, task balance, lack of involvement, unsafe culture.
• No clear overarching change strategy was identified.

Conclusions:

• Ownership and value for the local context are vital for change implementation.
• Teamwork and collaborative efforts are essential for successful change.
• Cultural factors significantly influence a team's capacity for change.