Authors: Busari, JamiuO¹; Koot, BartG²

Source: Medical Education, Volume 41, Number 10, October 2007 , pp. 957-964(8)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

Context 

Attending doctors (ADs) play important roles in the supervision of specialist registrars. Little is known, however, about how they perceive the quality of their supervision in different teaching settings. We decided to investigate whether there is any difference in how ADs perceive the quality of their supervision in university teaching hospital (UTH) and district teaching hospital (DTH) settings. Methods 

We used a standardised questionnaire to investigate the quality of supervision as perceived by ADs. Fifteen items reflecting good teaching ability were measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5: never−always). We investigated for factors that influenced the perceived quality of supervision using Likert scale items (1-5: totally disagree−totally agree) and open-ended questionnaires. Results 

A total of 83 ADs (UTH: 51; DTH: 32) were eligible to participate in the survey. Of these, 43 (52%) returned the questionnaire (UTH: 25; DTH: 18). There was no difference in the overall mean of the 15 items between the UTH (3.67, standard deviation [SD] 0.35) and DTH (3.73, SD 0.31) ADs. Attending doctors in the DTH group rated themselves better at `teaching technical skills' (mean 3.50, SD 0.70), compared with their UTH counterparts (mean 3.0, SD 0.76) (P = 0.03). Analysis of variance of the overall means revealed no significant difference between the different hospital settings. Conclusions 

The results suggest that teaching hospital environments do not influence how ADs perceive the quality of their supervision. Lack of time for teaching was perceived as responsible for poor supervision. Other factors found to influence AD perceptions of good supervision included effective teaching skills, communication skills and provision of feedback.

Keywords: *education, medical, graduate; medical staff, hospital/*education; hospitals, teaching; hospitals, district; clinical medicine/*education; attitude of health personnel; questionnaires; perception

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2007.02837.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Paediatrics, Atrium Medical Centre, Heerlen, The Netherlands 2: Department of Paediatrics, Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Publication date: 2007-10-01

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