What Makes a Good Endoscopic Teacher: A Qualitative Analysis

Objective: Teaching learners to perform endoscopic procedures is challenging, yet effective endoscopy teaching practices are not well-described in the literature, and prior studies have focused on perspectives of supervising physicians rather than learners. We sought to characterize, from the perspective of endoscopy learners, endoscopic teaching behaviors perceived as beneficial and detrimental to learning using qualitative methods. Design: This is a prospective qualitative content analysis. Gastroenterology fellows from 2 tertiary care centers anonymously provided feedback regarding supervising physicians’ teaching behaviors during endoscopic training between March 2016 and December 2016. Preprinted cards were completed at the conclusion of procedures to document behaviors that fellows perceived as enhancing or hampering their learning. Two investigators performed content analysis of written comments; each identified behavior was assigned positive or negative valence. Setting: Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, New York and University of California San Francisco in San Francisco, California. Both institutions are academic tertiary care centers. Participants: A total of 19 gastroenterology fellows at 2 training institutions participated. Results: A total of 239 teaching behaviors were identified by 19 fellows who worked with 31 supervising physicians; 29 unique behaviors were identified and organized into 7 themes: teaching, learning environment, autonomy, communication, coaching, feedback, and professionalism. Of all, 185 (77.4%) behaviors were reported as beneficial, and 54 (22.6%) as detrimental to the learning experience. Behaviors related to teaching were most often perceived as beneficial, while behaviors related to professionalism and communication were most often perceived as detrimental to learning. Conclusions: Specific teaching behaviors may help or hinder learning of endoscopic skills. These behaviors may be useful for efforts related to teaching evaluation, faculty development, and direct teaching.