TY - JOUR
T1 - Tutor Uncertainty in Dealing with Unprofessional Behaviours of Medical Students and Residents
T2 - a Mixed Methods Study
AU - Kelly, Dervla
AU - O’Doherty, Diane
AU - Harney, Sarah
AU - Slattery, Natasha
AU - Crowley, Louise
AU - McKeague, Helena
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to International Association of Medical Science Educators.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Background: Despite acknowledgement of medical students’ expected professional behaviours and attitudes, there remains widespread reluctance to report students that behave inappropriately. Existing literature focuses on why faculty fail to fail, overlooking the tutors who deal with students day to day. We investigated how tutors address inappropriate behaviours and attitudes in students and residents. Methods: A mixed methods study was carried out consisting of a survey and two focus groups with tutors. Seventeen tutors from the University of Limerick School of Medicine, Ireland, took part in the survey (n = 22%) and eight tutors participated in two focus groups during the 2018–2019 academic year. Results: Findings suggested that 59% of tutors would take a different approach to addressing unprofessional behaviours witnessed in medical students and residents. A total of 88% of tutors said they intervened on a professionalism issue with 52% saying ‘once in a while’. In contrast to the survey, tutors in the focus groups expressed a lack of confidence in addressing some behaviours due to a lack of time, not seeing the outcome of process/remediation etc. Tutors indicated a strong preference for case-based training on assessing professional identity formation (PIF). Conclusions: We found tutors typically work closely with students on a day-to-day basis managing unprofessionalism issues. Tutors valued regular communication about policies and procedures about appropriate conduct as well as support, advice, and/or oversight from independent members of university staff. This research highlights the need for training designed for busy tutors as a distinct type of medical teacher.
AB - Background: Despite acknowledgement of medical students’ expected professional behaviours and attitudes, there remains widespread reluctance to report students that behave inappropriately. Existing literature focuses on why faculty fail to fail, overlooking the tutors who deal with students day to day. We investigated how tutors address inappropriate behaviours and attitudes in students and residents. Methods: A mixed methods study was carried out consisting of a survey and two focus groups with tutors. Seventeen tutors from the University of Limerick School of Medicine, Ireland, took part in the survey (n = 22%) and eight tutors participated in two focus groups during the 2018–2019 academic year. Results: Findings suggested that 59% of tutors would take a different approach to addressing unprofessional behaviours witnessed in medical students and residents. A total of 88% of tutors said they intervened on a professionalism issue with 52% saying ‘once in a while’. In contrast to the survey, tutors in the focus groups expressed a lack of confidence in addressing some behaviours due to a lack of time, not seeing the outcome of process/remediation etc. Tutors indicated a strong preference for case-based training on assessing professional identity formation (PIF). Conclusions: We found tutors typically work closely with students on a day-to-day basis managing unprofessionalism issues. Tutors valued regular communication about policies and procedures about appropriate conduct as well as support, advice, and/or oversight from independent members of university staff. This research highlights the need for training designed for busy tutors as a distinct type of medical teacher.
KW - Attitudes
KW - Behaviours
KW - Clinical tutor professionalism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118441906&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s40670-021-01429-1
DO - 10.1007/s40670-021-01429-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85118441906
SN - 2156-8650
VL - 31
SP - 1931
EP - 1940
JO - Medical Science Educator
JF - Medical Science Educator
IS - 6
ER -