Abstract
Introduction
The General Medical Council (GMC) of the UK states that doctors have a duty to train and contribute to the education of colleagues, and that those involved in formal clinical teaching should have a teaching qualification.
Objectives
We sought to evaluate the current levels of engagement of surgical trainees and recently appointed surgical consultants in clinical teaching.
Methods
All trainees who commenced a basic or higher surgical training post during or after 2007 were invited to participate. The electronic questionnaire was administered using the survey tool GetFeedback, collecting information regarding subspecialty, current role, quantity of teaching that respondents engaged in and who they taught and teaching motivations and barriers.
Results
There were 128 respondents out of 358 invitations to participate (36% response rate). Less than half (39%) of respondents had attended formal courses on clinical education. Over 70% of respondents engaged in clinical teaching for two or more hours each week. A lack of time and resources were noted as barriers to engaging in teaching. We found a low number of those involved in teaching seeking feedback after teaching sessions.
Conclusion
In surgery, the apprenticeship model is still the framework for developing the surgeons of the future. In attempting to produce a highly skilled workforce for the future, we rely on those in senior positions to train those coming through; higher surgical trainees are relied on to teach the core surgical trainees and so on. Our study shows a low level of formalisation of this model.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Edelstein L. The Hippocratic oath, text, translation and interpretation. 1943.
GMC. Tomorrowʼs doctors 2009 [07/10/2016]. Available from: http://www.gmc-uk.org/Tomorrow_s_Doctors_1214.pdf_48905759.pdf.
Spencer J (2003) Learning and teaching in the clinical environment. Br Med J 326(7389):591
Rashid A, Siriwardena AN (2005) The professionalisation of education and educators in postgraduate medicine. Education for Primary Care 16(3):235–245
Soriano RP, Blatt B, Coplit L, CichoskiKelly E, Kosowicz L, Newman L et al (2010) Teaching medical students how to teach: a national survey of students-as-teachers programs in US medical schools. Acad Med 85(11):1725–1731
Qureshi Z, Ross M, Maxwell S, Rodrigues M, Parisinos C, Nikki HH (2013) Developing junior doctor-delivered teaching. Clin Teach 10(2):118–123
Qureshi Z, Seah M, Ross M, Maxwell S (2013) Centrally organised bedside teaching led by junior doctors. Clin Teach 10(3):141–145
Lake J, Bell J (2016) Medical educators: the rich symbiosis between clinical and teaching roles. Clin Teach 13(1):43–47
Liew S-C, Sow C-F, Sidhu J, Nadarajah VD (2015) The near-peer tutoring programme: embracing the ‘doctors-to-teach’ philosophy—a comparison of the effects of participation between the senior and junior near-peer tutors. Medical education online 20
Collins JP, Smith MJ, Lambert T, Hillis DJ (2011) Sustaining the surgical educator workforce in Australia and New Zealand. ANZ J Surg 81(6):411–417
Maarij K, Halim MU, Iqbal N (2015) Teaching from junior doctors: the experience of medical students. Medical teacher 37(10):977
Tooke J, Ashtiany S, Carter D, Cole A, Michael J, Rashid A, et al. (2008). Aspiring to excellence. Final report of the independent inquiry into modernising medical careers mmC Inquiry Londres
Tso S, Corrigall D, Bennett K, Wood E (2014) A case study of a teacher development training programme for newly qualified foundation year doctors. Health and Social Care Education:1–6
Peadon E, Caldwell PH, Oldmeadow W (2010) I enjoy teaching but...’: Paediatricians’ attitudes to teaching medical students and junior doctors. J Paediatr Child Health 46(11):647–652
Thibault GE, Neill JM, Lowenstein DH (2003) The Academy at Harvard Medical School: nurturing teaching and stimulating innovation. Acad Med 78(7):673–681
Aagaard E, Teherani A, Irby DM (2004) Effectiveness of the one-minute preceptor model for diagnosing the patient and the learner: proof of concept. Acad Med 79(1):42–49
Wolpaw TM, Wolpaw DR, Papp KK (2003) SNAPPS: a learner-centered model for outpatient education. Acad Med 78(9):893–898
Qureshi Z (2014) Back to the bedside: the role of bedside teaching in the modern era. Perspect Med Educ 3(2):69–72
Seabrook M (2003) Medical teachersʼ concerns about the clinical teaching context. Med Educ 37(3):213–222
McGaghie WC, Issenberg SB, Petrusa ER, Scalese RJ (2016) Revisiting ‘a critical review of simulation-based medical education research: 2003–2009’. Med Educ 50(10):986–991
Mughal Z, Noory S (2015) Increasing medical students’ confidence in procedural skills using a junior doctor-delivered bedside supervision program. Teaching and learning in medicine 27(4):417–421
Cd B, Medway C (1999) The clinical skills resource: a review of current practice. Med Educ 33(3):185–191
Post RE, Quattlebaum RG, Benich JJ III (2009) Residents-as-teachers curricula: a critical review. Acad Med 84(3):374–380
De SK, Henke PK, Ailawadi G, Dimick JB, Colletti LM (2004) Attending, house officer, and medical student perceptions about teaching in the third-year medical school general surgery clerkship. J Am Coll Surg 199(6):932–942
Peters M, ten Cate O (2014) Bedside teaching in medical education: a literature review. Perspectives on medical education 3(2):76–88
Boufersaoui A, Dickerson JE (2016) The role of junior doctors in medical education. Medical teacher 38(2):211
Lubowitz JH, Provencher MT, Brand JC, Rossi MJ (2015) The apprenticeship model for surgical training is inferior. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery 31(10):1847–1848
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Funding
No funding was received for this study.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
Informed consent
Participants were invited to voluntarily partake in this study, with subsequent response implying consent. Participants were informed that the study was anonymised and that the results of the survey were to be disseminated in a peer reviewed publication.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Feeley, I., Kelly, M., Healy, E.F. et al. Surgical tuition within Irish hospitals: a national survey. Ir J Med Sci 187, 177–182 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1610-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1610-3