Abstract
Objectives: Clinical rotations play a major role in the learning process for medical students. During training, students are usually supervised by a team of residents and their consultants. This study was conducted in order to determine the perceptions of undergraduate medical students towards Emergency Medicine [EM] residents as teachers.
Methods: An online survey that could be downloaded via Google documents was conducted among undergraduate medical students and interns from six government teaching hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Results: The survey was completed by 384 undergraduate medical students [interns: 88.8%; 5th year students: 11.2%]. About 63% of respondents indicated that EM residents taught them the general principles of medicine; 40.0% of respondents agreed that EM residents have a high level of theoretical knowledge, and 59.0% felt relaxed and confident when an EM resident was present to teach and guide them. Approximately 18% of students attributed 75 % of their clinical knowledge to the EM residents who taught them. However, 62.0 % of the respondents believed that there is a need for EM residents to acquire more teaching skills.
Conclusion: Undergraduate medical students and interns perceived teaching by EM residents positively. Moreover, EM residents who undertook a teaching role had a great impact on the acquisition of knowledge by undergraduate students. However, many students thought that there was still a need for EM residents to acquire more teaching skills and gain further competence in teaching