Audit of medical students' experiences of paediatric teaching: a tool to monitor and improve clinical teaching.

We provide clear aims and objectives for our students during their attachment in child health. To assess how well these are being met we reviewed their experience over the 3-year period 1991-1994. The audit was based on a questionnaire and was anonymous and voluntary; 45.4% of the students completed the questionnaire. These students' experiences were generally satisfactory and covered a wide variety of common childhood disorders. Of concern was that 32% of them received less than 1 hour per week of teaching in protected time and that they seemed reluctant to avail themselves of the opportunity of attending casualty; 54% did not visit the casualty department at all during their attachment. We have identified several areas where improvements in our teaching can be made and we are confident that our system of regular audit constitutes a valuable tool to monitor and improve clinical teaching.