Supporting paediatric residents as teaching advocates: Changing students’ perceptions

Abstract

Introduction: Residents-as-teachers (RAT) programmes benefit both medical students and residents. However, common barriers encountered include busy clinical duties, congested lesson schedules and duty-hour regulations. Methods: The study aimed to determine if providing a structured teaching platform and logistic support, through the Paediatric Residents As Teaching Advocates (PRATA) programme, would enhance residents’ teaching competencies and reduce learning barriers faced by medical students. The programme was held over 23 months and participated by 502 medical students. Residents were assigned as intervention group tutors and conducted bedside teachings. The evaluation was performed by medical students using paper surveys with 5-point Likert scales at the start and end of the programme. Results: We found that students in the intervention groups perceived residents to be more competent teachers. The teaching competencies with the most significant difference were residents’ enthusiasm (intervention vs control: 4.34 vs 3.92), giving constructive feedback (4.23 vs 3.83) and overall teaching effectiveness (4.27 vs 3.89). Higher scores indicated better teaching competency. Similarly, the intervention groups perceived fewer barriers. More improvement was noted in the intervention groups with regards to busy ward work as a teaching barrier as the scores improved by 0.49, compared to 0.3 in the control groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that providing a structured teaching platform could enhance residents’ teaching competencies and logistic support could help overcome common barriers in RAT programmes. This combination could enhance future RAT programmes’ effectiveness.