Objective:

To analyze narrative comments on medical student evaluations of residents to gain insight into what medical students identify as the qualities and skills of effective resident teachers.

Background:

Residents are important teachers of clerkship medical students despite often having little formal training in effective teaching techniques. Resident-as-teacher (RAT) curricula aim to meet this need but student attitudes and expectations regarding desirable qualities and skills of resident teachers are poorly characterized. Downstream effects of superior RAT curricula may be to mitigate “neurophobia” and increase neurology recruitment.

Design/Methods:

Two authors (SS and HS) performed constant comparative analysis of narrative comments from anonymized clerkship student evaluations of residents in batches of fifty. Themes and subthemes were coded and reviewed in an iterative process until saturation was achieved.

Results:

200 evaluations from 2015-2023 were analyzed before saturation was reached. Themes spanned six major categories (1) content of teaching, (2) work-based learning, teaching & assessment, (3) learning environment, (4) role modeling, (5) attitudes as teacher, (6) context of teaching. Residents were perceived by students to have significant influence on their education in many ways within each of these categories. Recurrent themes regarding effective resident behaviors included ensuring students are challenged to take greater responsibility in patient care, giving effective feedback, creating a safe learning environment, making time to teach, and role modeling. Students also appreciated residents who were approachable with questions or concerns, and those who taught in a way that is both inspiring and individualized to the particular student.

Conclusions:

In post-clerkship evaluation forms, students identified many attitudes, skills and behaviors of effective resident teachers. Resident teachers have significant influence on the identification of appropriate learning objectives, the process by which students achieve those objectives, and the environment in which this learning takes place. Resident-as-teacher curricula should focus on developing resident abilities to most effectively exert this influence.