Instructional skills of surgical tutors.
OBJECTIVE
This study was aimed at evaluating the pattern of instructional skills of surgical tutors in a university hospital and the effect of feedback on this pattern.


METHODS
Students who followed three clinical rotations at the Department of Surgery, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Teaching Hospital, Kuwait, responded anonymously to a structured questionnaire on the instructional skills of their tutors immediately after the rotation was completed. The questionnaire included six statements related to teacher-centred instructional skills and six statements related to student-centred instructional skills. The students indicated their perception on a five-point rating scale (very poor, poor, fair, good and very good). A summary of students' opinions was made available to the teachers soon after each rotation.


RESULTS
The percentage of good/very good categories was significantly higher in the teacher-centred skills compared with the student-centred skills (median (range), 87.05% (85.9-91.7) compared with 79.6% (76.6-80.6), (p = 0.004, Mann Whitney U test). This difference was significant in the first two rotations (p < 0.005) but not in the third rotation (p=0.59).


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that behaviours of teachers which dealt directly with the learner's role in learning received lower emphasis than the teacher-centred activities and that feedback may modify this behaviour.
Abu-Zidan
F M
FM
Department of Surgery, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Teaching Hospital. fabuzidan@uaeu.ac.ae
Premadasa
I G
IG
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007730:Kuwait; D008297:Male; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching