Role modelling--making the most of a powerful teaching strategy

doi:10.1136/bmj.39503.757847.BE

BMJ 2008;336:718-721 (29 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39503.757847.BE

Practice

Teaching Rounds

Role modelling—making the most of a powerful teaching strategy

Sylvia R Cruess, professor of medicine, Richard L Cruess, professor of surgery, Yvonne Steinert, professor of family medicine

¹ Centre for Medical Education, McGill University, 1110 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1A3

Correspondence to: S R Cruess sylvia.cruess@mcgill.ca

Teachers need to be aware of the conscious and unconscious componentsof learning from role modelling, so that the net effect of theprocess is positive

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Key points

Role modelling is a powerful teaching tool for passingon the knowledge, skills, and values of the medical profession,but its net effect on the behaviour of students is often negativerather than positive

By analysing their own performance asrole models, individuals can improve their personal performance

Strategiesare available to help doctors become better role models:

Beingaware of the impact of what we are modelling (be it positiveor negative)
Protecting time to facilitate dialogue, reflection,and debriefing with students
Making a conscious effort to articulatewhat we are modelling, and to make the implicit explicit

Educating future generations of physicians is one of the privilegesand obligations of the medical profession. As an important partof this process, doctors historically have patterned their activitieson those of practitioners whom they respect and trust. Thesehave been called role models, "individuals admired for theirways of being . . . [Full text of this article]

What makes for an effective role model?

Box 1 Role modelling vignettes
1: In the middle of the night
2: In the cafeteria
3: In the clinic

Where does role modelling take place?

How can role modelling be improved?

Strategies to improve personal performance
Box 2 Strategies to improve role modelling
Awareness of being a role model
Time to teach
The importance of reflection: making the implicit explicit
Participating in staff development
Strategies to improve the institutional culture

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