Centrally organised bedside teaching led by junior doctors.

BACKGROUND:   Clinical bedside teaching is arguably the most favoured form of teaching by medical students, but has been on the decline in recent years. Junior doctors are often underused as teachers and, with adequate training, may help to solve this problem. Bedside Teachers is a junior doctor-led teaching programme that is delivered throughout South-East Scotland, and is now in its third year. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of final-year medical students participating in the Bedside Teachers programme, and how they compared this with teaching from senior staff.

METHODS:   Anonymised questionnaires were issued to all participants. Students were asked to rate statements relating to: (i) the quality of bedside teaching tutorials; and (ii) the teaching delivered by junior doctors compared with that delivered by senior staff.

RESULTS:   All students indicated that the tutorials improved their confidence in clinical examination. Eighty-seven per cent indicated that it provided a useful clinical experience that they would otherwise not have received. All respondents indicated that junior doctors were more approachable than senior staff. The majority of students indicated that they thought junior doctors covered more relevant material to being a good junior doctor, and that junior doctor-led teaching was at least as good or better than teaching by senior staff on a number of other criteria.

CONCLUSIONS:   With adequate training, junior doctors can be a useful resource for increasing the bedside teaching opportunities available to students, with potential advantages over using senior staff.