Residents' perceptions of their teachers: facilitative behaviour and the learning value of rotations

Abstract

Despite changes in modern medicine the role of the clinical teacher remains central to medical residents' education and rotations continue to be their dominant educational context. Residents have strong positive feelings for clinical teachers who are perceived as interested in teaching and for those rotations that provide a balance of educational opportunities and patient care responsibilities. Research in residency education has focused on teacher behaviours used to teach medical residents clinical information or patient care skills but has neglected teacher behaviours used to facilitate effective learning relationships with residents. To explore the impact of clinical teachers' use of facilitative behaviours on residents' educational experience, we use concepts stemming from the psychologist Carl Rogers' work previously shown to be associated with positive learning outcomesempathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence. These constructs are measured by the use of the four scales of the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI) -level of regard, unconditionality of regard, congruence and empathy. Our study measures the correlation between residents' perceptions of clinical teachers' use of facilitative behaviours and residents' evaluation of the learning value of rotations. Thirty-three residents completed the BLRI on a different clinical teacher for each of six monthly rotations. A total of 158 surveys were returned. There were strong positive correlations between three of the BLRI variables and residents' perception of the learning value of rotations. Potential uses of these findings are discussed.

Identifying Qualities of a Medical Teacher

“…There is also agreement that better educators are those who demonstrate enthusiasm for their educational responsibilities. Some of them also felt strongly that scholarly activity has little importance in defining an effective clinical educator, a finding consistent with the work of previous authors 6 .…”

Clinician-teachers’ self-assessments versus learners’ perceptions

“…6 Common assessments of a teacher's merit and effectiveness are learners' impressions of the teacher and improvement in skills, attitudes, and behaviors that result from the teacher-learner interaction. While several studies have assessed learner evaluation of clinical teaching, [7][8][9][10][11][12] few studies have compared faculty self-assessments with learner estimations. 13 This study was conducted to better understand how teachers' self-assessments of their skills and abilities compare to learners' perceptions.…”

Developing a Standardized Faculty Evaluation in an Emergency Medicine Residency

“…The effective faculty educator is an essential factor in the quality of the education of residents (12). The relationship between the resident and faculty is best described as a partnership in learning.…”