Medical students Perception, Satisfaction and Feedback about Bedside Teaching (BST)

Abstract

Bedside teaching is one of the most important modality of clinical teaching method in the presence of a patient which delivers practical essentials to the budding doctors. It emphasis on training medical students, residents and internes in history taking and physical examination skills which play a vital role in getting the diagnosis. Indeed, medicine is learned by the bedside teaching rather than classroom teaching stated by an eminent personality Sir William Osler. In the past few decades the significance of the bedside teaching is gradually fading off with the advancement in the medical technology. Most educators were confused about role of bedside teaching; number of researches is popping up with this regard. The aim of the current study was to determine how the first clinical year students perceive and reflect on bedside teaching method in their first encounter and to identify the different attitudes towards learning. It was a cross-sectional, questionnaire based study. One hundred and two, year three medical students of first clinical year from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), chosen for the study using convenience sampling method. The study showed that the students were satisfied in most of the categories of BST. The study explored students expectations like “to get more information over the topic as much as possible” and can assess their preference such as “if know the topic beforehand”, “more interactive” and “delivered take home message”. The negative feedback like ‘stressful’ and ‘boring’ also helped the teachers how to engage the learners during the BST. This study will help to assess the satisfaction of students or the most important stakeholders of our university regarding their learning process. This feedback from the students supports the effort to improve in teaching method so that teachers can produce best professionals in the field. It is a beneficial and reliable study in terms of perspectives in developing the best teaching methods.