Perceptions and comparison of bedside teaching among final year students of public and private medical colleges of Peshawar

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: Bedside teaching is an important but declining strategy in medical education. The regulatory authority’s insistence on structure of an institute needs be supplemented with quality of bedside teaching. The objective of this study was to find perceptions and compare bedside teaching among students of public and private medical colleges of Peshawar.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at four medical colleges of Peshawar during the month of February 2020. A Likert scale tool with 30 items and four subscales; physical environment, patient’s comfort and student attitude, teaching session and teaching fellow was filled by 242 students. Mean score for each question and each subscale was calculated for each institute for perceptions. Mean score of two public and two private institutes for each subscale was compared by unpaired t-test.

Results: Physical environment mean score was highest at Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar (2.97±0.50). Patients’ comfort and students’ attitude mean score was approximately equal in four institutes. In teaching session, the highest mean score was reported by Khyber Girls Medical College and was lowest by Khyber Medical College. For teaching fellow, mean score was highest at Khyber Girls Medical College (3.70±0.67) and lowest at Kabir Medical College (2.85±0.55). For physical environment (public 2.87±0.48 vs. private 2.59±0.60) and teaching fellow scale (public 2.87±0.48 vs. private2.59±0.60) there was highly significant difference (p=0.0001).

Conclusion: Mean score in four subscales are comparable in four institutes with some variation but there are significant differences between public and private institutes in physical environment and teaching fellow subscales. There are some consistencies and conflicts with regional and international literature. This needs in-depth qualitative exploration.

Bedside teaching, Medical education, Perception, Physical environment, Teaching session, Teaching fellow