Doctors as teachers: what do they think?

AIMS

To assess the views of senior medical officers (SMOs) at Auckland City Hospital (Auckland, New Zealand) in the areas of teaching, supervision, and feedback for resident medical officers (RMOs).

METHODS

All SMOs at Auckland City Hospital were asked to complete a survey regarding postgraduate medical education. Data was then collected and entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and was statistically analysed. P values were calculated using Chi-squared testing and Fisher's exact test.

RESULTS

237/730 surveys were received giving a response rate of 32.1%. There was a statistically significant difference between SMOs self-rated competence (SRC) and their perceived required competence (RC) in the domains of 'Teaching' (SRC=3.74; RC=4.36 - p<0.0001), 'Supervision' (SRC=3.78; RC=4.37 - p<0.0001) and 'Feedback' (SRC=3.55; RC=4.36 - p<0.0001). Ratings were done on a 5-point Likert scale where a score of 1 was poor and a score of 5 was excellent. SMOs were then asked whether they required further information around various postgraduate medical education topics. 79.9% requested information on 'managing the poorly performing RMO'. Dual employees (i.e. SMOs employed by both the University of Auckland and Auckland City Hospital) were more likely to have attended a 'Teach the Teacher Course' (66.6%) than those SMOs only employed by Auckland City Hospital (43.3%, p=0.0083). A number of factors were also identified as barriers to conducting effective teaching. These included a lack of time, high clinical workload, poor continuity between trainees and SMOs, and a lack of recognition for teaching roles of SMOs.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study showed a gap between the perceived self-rated competence and required competence in SMOs in their role as teachers. There is also a perceived gap in support for SMOs in their role as teachers and the expected educational outcomes for trainees within the New Zealand clinical setting.