Comparison of clinical teaching by residents and attending physicians in inpatient and lecture settings

Abstract

We examined the differences between the clinical teaching of 21 residents and 19 attending physicians in one of two settings. Participants completed self‐assessments and were videotaped in either inpatient rounds or lectures. The videotapes were rated using the Clinical Teaching Observational Rating Scale. Teacher (Resident, Attending Physician) x Setting (Inpatient, Lecture) between‐subjects analyses of variance of videotape ratings showed that (a) attending physicians and residents generally received similar ratings; (b) when ratings were significantly different, faculty ratings were higher than residents’ ratings; and (c) setting was a significant source of variance for five of seven educational categories. There were no significant differences between residents’ and attending physicians’ self‐assessments of their clinical teaching. We concluded that (a) teaching improvement methods should acknowledge the influence of teaching experience and setting on teaching performance, and (b) residents and faculty could expand their repertoire of teaching behaviors.