Authors: Sarah T. Deutsch, MD; Elizabeth Chawla, MD
Teaching in the clinical environment, also referred to as “bedside teaching”, centers around education in clinical settings focused on patients and their problems. Becoming an excellent clinical teacher requires professional development, feedback and reflection, and an understanding of learning theories and teaching models. Clinician educators face numerous challenges in implementing effective bedside teaching, including balancing patient care and administrative demands, the unpredictable nature of clinical work, the need to engage learners at multiple levels, a lack of incentives, and time constraints, among others.
Here are 12 practical tips to ease teaching challenges in the clinical environment.
Preparation: Be familiar with the clinical curriculum and the learners’ needs
Planning: What are your teaching goals? How will you engage the learner? How will the content be organized? When will you create time for teaching?
Orientation: Understand the learners’ objectives and assign appropriate roles to the team members. Establish “ground rules” for the team.
Introduction: Introduce the team to the patients. Orient the patient to the team encounter.
Interaction: Be a role model for the physician-patient interaction. This teaches professionalism, humanism, and positive multidisciplinary care partnerships.
Observation: Allow the learner to have an active role in the bedside encounter and observe their patient interaction.
Instruction: Ask questions that engage the learners, avoid pitting learners against each other, and admit your own limitations. Model willingness to learn.
Summarize: Teachers should summarize the learning points.
Debriefing: Allow time for follow-up questions, clarifications, and further learning/reading.
Feedback: Ask learners what went well and areas for improvement in your teaching
Reflection: How was the bedside encounter? How can you improve for the next teaching session?
Insight, reflection, and preparation for the next teaching encounter.
To learn more, check out this article: Teaching in the Clinical Environment: Dr. Subha Ramani & Sam Leinster (2008) AMEE Guide no. 34: teaching in the clinical environment, Medical Teacher, 30:4, 347-364, DOI: 10.1080/01421590802061613
