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LETTERS: Wai-Ching Leung, Brian Jolly, Elizabeth Murray, Chris McManus, Belinda Winder, and Peter Richards Clinical experience and performance in final examinations BMJ 1998; 316: 1984 [Full text]

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Units With Formally Trained Teachers Increase Medical Student Satisfaction

Christopher I M Price   (23 July 1998)

Units With Formally Trained Teachers Increase Medical Student Satisfaction 23 July 1998
Christopher I M Price, Teaching and Research Fellow University of Newcastle Regional School of Medicine, North Tyneside General Hospital Send response to journal: Re: Units With Formally Trained Teachers Increase Medical Student Satisfaction	Editor : 21/07/98 Units With Formally Trained Teachers Increase Medical Student Satisfaction Following Leung’s comments about student’s learning styles in relation to their success in final examinations1, we would like to support the view that it is vital for departments to have clearly defined teaching strategies. In an analysis of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) results from 1996 and 1997 for 318 third year students at Newcastle University we found that there was no significant association between their grades and where they had learnt basic clinical skills. A comparison of the mean exam mark (range 62-67%) for each of the nine teaching units participating in this Clinical Skills Course indicated no difference in exam performance according to whether students attended those seven centres using a greater proportion of occasional teachers or the two centres with clinicians who had received greater formal training in education. There was no clustering of unsuccessful students. This result would tend to agree with McManus that we are still unsure about how to create competent doctors 2. However, analysis of the anonymous written feedback returned by 137 students showed that they were significantly more likely to strongly agree that the Clinical Skills Course was better suited to meet the Course requirements if they had attended the two units where a greater proportion of clinicians had been trained in educational methods, including four teaching and research fellow posts (see table below). Q. Did the experience provided by the CSC overall allow you to meet the objectives set in the Study Guide ? Strongly agree Not strongly agree Centres with trained teachers : 24 4 Centres with occasional teachers: 36 73 Chi-squared test : p<0.00001 It has been proposed that the affective domain of learning should not be neglected if education is to be successful in the long term3. Therefore although this local data has not suggested that better grades come directly from contact with teaching staff who have a formal educational background, we hope that the more satisfied students will retain a more positive attitude towards future learning. Student satisfaction is not only important as part of "consumer research", but should be a key aim of departments that educate if the correct atmosphere for successful learning is to be developed. This will only be achieved by educating the teachers to be aware of obstacles they may face, including the existence of different learning styles amongst the student population1. Exam marks alone may not reflect successful teaching. Yours sincerely, Dr Christopher Price Teaching and Research Fellow Mr Ravi Siddheshwar Teaching and Research Fellow Dr Seong Han Teaching and Research Fellow Dr Mark Welfare Lecturer in Gastroenterology Dr Roger Barton Reader in Medicine University of Newcastle Regional School of Medicine North Tyneside General Hospital, Rake Lane, North Shields NE29 8NH 1. Leung W. Teaching styles need to be reviewed to help students with inappropriate learning styles. BMJ 1998; 316 : 1984 2. McManus C, Winder B, Richards P. Author's reply. BMJ 1998; 316 : 1984 3. Daines J, Daines C, Graham B. (1993). Teaching Methods. In : Adult Learning Adult Teaching. Third Edition. Pages 33-74. Continuing Education Press. University of Nottingham.