AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO DEFINING THE ROLE OF THE CLINICAL TEACHER

A number of studies have attempted to identify the components of the c linical teacher role by examining learners' numerical ratings of items on researcher-generated lists. Some of these studies have also compar ed different groups' perceptions of clinical teaching, but have not di rectly compared the perceptions of first- and third-year residents. Th is study addressed two questions: (1) What do residents consider impor tant components of the clinical teacher role? (2) Do first- and third- year residents perceive this role similarly? Method. A content analysi s was performed on the comments written on evaluation forms by 268 res idents about 490 clinical teachers over a five-year period (1980-81 th rough 1984-85) at a large family practice residency. Of 5,664 forms co mpleted by the residents, 2,388 (42%) contained written comments; comm ents were on 1,024 (46%) of the first-year residents' forms, 701 (41%) of the second-year residents' forms, and 663 (39%) of the third-year residents' forms. Themes in these comments were coded into a coding di ctionary of 157 categories, within 37 clusters, within four roles. Res ults. The ten highest-ranked categories (Global; Teaching: General; Kn owledgeable; Gives Resident Responsibility; Supportive; Miscellaneous; Interested in Teaching; Clinical Competence; Makes Effort to Teach; a nd Gives Resident Opportunity to Do Procedures) accounted for 41% of t he themes coded. The first- and third-year residents differed in the c lusters they used to describe their clinical teachers on evaluation fo rms (chi2 = 149.86, df = 36, p < .0001). Conclusion. The results sugge st that content analysis can be used to validly and reliably study res idents' written evaluative comments about their teachers. This study c ontributes to the definition of the clinical teacher role, showing the relative importances of its components, and also supports Stritter's Learning Vector theory, finding the anticipated differences between th e comments made by first- and third-year residents.