title: A regional teaching fellow community of practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing numbers of clinical teaching fellows are responsible for a significant proportion of undergraduate teaching nationally. Developing a regional community of practice can help overcome the isolation of these posts, with potential benefits for all involved.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  A community of practice relies on the mutual engagement of people in a similar situation working towards a common goal. Working together and sharing resources enables teaching fellows to make the most of their post, which ultimately benefits those that they are teaching.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed a regional clinical teaching fellow community of practice in Bristol in 2010/11. Our community has continued to develop since completing our posts as clinical teaching fellows, and has provided a platform for new communities to develop amongst the groups of subsequent teaching fellows coming through. We encourage all regions who have clinical teaching fellows to develop a regional community of practice
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We encourage all regions who have clinical teaching fellows to develop a regional community of practice. We also encourage trainees to join TASME (Trainees in the Association for the Study of Medical Education), a new national community of practice for trainees involved in medical education.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Butcher
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Still
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vasant
mesh_terms: D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D016730:Program Development; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching; D006113:United Kingdom; D000078329:Workforce