Medical teacher
-
The patient is at the center of clinical medicine. In order to effectively teach clinical skills a teacher must learn to involve patients in the educational process. It is through this process that learners acquire the skills of observation, communication, examination and professionalism. ⋯ This paper describes a workshop on bedside teaching. The authors present barriers and advantages discussed during the workshop as well as a 'Model of Best Bedside Teaching Practices', which emerged after conducting the workshop for over 135 medical educators. The model includes suggested skills for effective bedside teaching that are arranged into three domains: attending to patient comfort, focused teaching and group dynamics.
-
Clinical reasoning allows physicians to move from areas of clinical uncertainty to points where the medical literature offers guidance, and is equally important in deducing whether the results of clinical trials are applicable to an individual patient. However, studies in the field of cognitive psychology indicate that the reasoning skills of clinicians are imperfect. ⋯ This article provides an introduction to diagnostic reasoning and highlights some of the cognitive factors that lead to errors in clinical problem solving. Clinical scenarios are used to illustrate key points and place the material in a readily accessible framework.
-
Bedside teaching has long been considered the most effective method to teach clinical skills and communication skills. Despite this belief, the frequency of bedside rounds is decreasing and it is believed that this is a major factor causing a sharp decline in trainees' clinical skills. ⋯ Concern about trainees' clinical skills has led organizations such as the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the WHO Advisory Committee on Medical training to recommend that training programs should increase the frequency of bedside teaching in their clinical curricula. Although obstacles to bedside teaching are acknowledged, this article in the '12 tips' series is a detailed description of teaching strategies that could facilitate a return to the bedside for clinical teaching.