School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, 3216, Australia.
School of Medicine (Optometry), Faculty of Health, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, 3216, Australia.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Aug 21;24(1):900. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05886-1.
In Australia, university clinical programs rely heavily on external healthcare professionals to provide a range of authentic clinical training and professional development opportunities for students. There is, however, a limited understanding of the factors that motivate these professionals to be educators and whether this varies across different healthcare disciplines within Australia. As the demand for clinical placements continues to increase, it is critical for the ongoing success of these programs that universities identify both the barriers associated with teaching and the benefits that enhance job satisfaction.
A two-part questionnaire was emailed to 849 external healthcare educators teaching predominantly in Medicine, Medical Imaging, and Optometry programs at Deakin University. Part-one surveyed the socio-demographics, perceived benefits, and barriers to teaching, plus the utilisation of entitlements offered by the university. Part-two was modelled on Dybowski and Harendza's validated Physician Teaching Motivation Questionnaire (PTMQ) and adapted to an Australian audience.
Overall, 776 out of the 849 questionnaires were considered in the final participant pool. The response rate for part-one was 19.7% (n = 153/776) and 18.3% (n = 142/776) for part-two. Across all professions, altruism was the primary source of motivation for teaching in Deakin University's healthcare programs. Medical Imaging educators placed a higher value on career-related teaching aspects compared to those in Medicine and Optometry (p < 0.003). The resources and benefits associated with teaching were generally perceived to be of minimal importance. External healthcare educators most commonly reported that there were no barriers to teaching (41.3%, n = 78) however, increased workloads and time constraints were the next most likely factors to affect teaching participation (31.8%, n = 60).
Our validated adaptation of the PTMQ successfully targeted healthcare professions not focussed on by Dybowski and Harendza. Altruistic motivation was the overarching theme for why Australian external healthcare educators contribute to teaching with some differences in career-driven motivation additionally acknowledged. Despite there being no key benefits or barriers to teaching participation, universities must remain cognisant of the factors that influence the recruitment and retention of external healthcare educators and how to optimise these for the ongoing success and sustainability of their teaching programs.
在澳大利亚，大学临床项目严重依赖外部医疗保健专业人员为学生提供一系列真实的临床培训和专业发展机会。然而，人们对激励这些专业人员成为教育者的因素以及在澳大利亚不同医疗保健学科中这种因素是否存在差异知之甚少。随着临床实习岗位的需求持续增长，对于这些项目的持续成功，大学必须确定与教学相关的障碍以及提高工作满意度的益处。
向迪肯大学医学、医学影像和验光专业的 849 名外部医疗保健教育者发送了一份两部分的问卷。第一部分调查了社会人口统计学、感知益处、教学障碍以及对大学提供的权益的利用情况。第二部分以 Dybowski 和 Harendza 的经过验证的医师教学动机问卷（PTMQ）为模型，并针对澳大利亚受众进行了调整。
总体而言，在最终的参与者中考虑了 849 份问卷中的 776 份。第一部分的回复率为 19.7%（n=153/776），第二部分的回复率为 18.3%（n=142/776）。在所有专业中，利他主义是迪肯大学医疗保健项目教学的主要动机。医学影像教育者比医学和验光教育者更重视与职业相关的教学方面（p<0.003）。与教学相关的资源和益处通常被认为是微不足道的。外部医疗保健教育者最常报告的是没有教学障碍（41.3%，n=78），但增加的工作量和时间限制是下一个最有可能影响教学参与的因素（31.8%，n=60）。
我们对 PTMQ 的验证性改编成功地针对了 Dybowski 和 Harendza 没有关注的医疗保健专业。利他主义的动机是澳大利亚外部医疗保健教育者参与教学的首要主题，此外还承认了一些职业驱动动机的差异。尽管教学参与没有关键的好处或障碍，但大学必须意识到影响外部医疗保健教育者招聘和留任的因素，以及如何优化这些因素，以确保教学项目的持续成功和可持续性。
