Medical educators' perception of race in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: While several medical societies endorse race as a social construct, it is still often used as a biological trait in medical education. How medical educators employ race while teaching is likely impacted by their beliefs as to what race represents and its relevance in clinical care. Understanding these beliefs is necessary to guide medical education curriculum reform. METHODS: This was a qualitative survey study, conducted in June 2020, of Georgetown University Medical Center faculty. As part of the survey, faculty were asked to rate, on a 5-point Likert scale, the extent to which they perceived race as a biological trait and its importance in clinical care. Self-identified clinical or preclinical faculty (N = 147) who believed that race had any importance were asked to provide an example illustrating its significance. Free-text responses were coded using content analysis with an inductive approach and contextualized by faculty's perspectives on the biological significance of race. RESULTS: There were 130 (88%) responses categorized into two major themes: race is important for [1] screening, diagnosing, and treating diseases and [2] contextualizing patients' experiences and health behaviors. Compared to faculty who perceived race as biological, those who viewed race as strictly social were more likely to report using race to understand or acknowledge patients' exposure to racism. However, even among these faculty, explanations that suggested biological differences between racial groups were prevalent. CONCLUSIONS: Medical educators use race primarily to understand diseases and frequently described biological differences between racial groups. Efforts to reframe race as sociopolitical may require education that examines race through a global lens, accounting for the genetic and cultural variability that occurs within racial groups; greater awareness of the association between structural racism and health inequities; movement away from identity-based risk stratification; and incorporation of tools that appraise race-based medical literature.

Every doctor an educator?

INTRODUCTION: The education of the future health care workforce is fundamental to ensuring safe, effective, and inclusive patient care. Despite this there has been chronic underinvestment in health care education and, even though there is an increased need for educators, the true number of medical educators has been in relative decline for over a decade. PURPOSE: In this paper, we focus on the role of doctors as medical educators. We reflect on the culture in which medical education and training are delivered, the challenges faced, and their origins and sustaining factors. We propose a re-framing of this culture by applying Maslow's principles of the hierarchy of needs to medical educators, not only as individuals but as a specialist group and to the system in which this group works, to instigate actionable change and promote self-actualization for medical educators. DISCUSSION: Promoting and supporting the work of doctors who are educators is critically important. Despite financial investment in some practice areas, overall funding for and the number of medical educators continues to decline. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) schemes such as those offered by specialised medical education associations are welcomed, but without time, funding and a supportive culture from key stakeholders, medical educators cannot thrive and reach their potential. CONCLUSION: We need to revolutionise the culture in which medical education is practised, where medical educators are valued and commensurately rewarded as a diverse group of specialists who have an essential role in training the health care workforce to support the delivery of excellent, inclusive health care for patients. By reimagining the challenges faced as a hierarchy we show that until the fundamental needs of value, funding and time are realised, it will remain challenging to instigate the essential change that is needed.

Acceptance and use of the distance education systems of Turkish medical educators during COVID-19 pandemic: an analysis of contextual factors with the UTAUT2.

The aim of this study was to analyze the factors that has affected the use and approval of distance education systems during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey according to the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). The study provided valuable insights on factors affecting the acceptance and use of distance education systems, which have become vital media of instruction since 2020. A total of 708 medical educators volunteered to participate in the study. The data were collected with a scale that was developed according to the UTAUT2 model. The scale consists of the variables of the UTAUT2 model as a ten-point Likert type questionnaire, including twenty-five items and seven dimensions: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habits, facilitating conditions and behavioral intentions. The data were processed through correlation analysis, simple and multiple linear regression, and the structural equation model. The findings of the study indicated that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, habit, facilitating conditions and behavioral intentions all had positive effects on medical educators using distance education systems.

Medical educators' beliefs about learning goals, teaching, and assessment in the context of curriculum changes: a qualitative study conducted at an Iranian medical school.

BACKGROUND: Achieving changing needs, advancing knowledge, and innovations in higher education require the constant changes of medical school curricula and successfully applying the new reforms requires some modifications in the medical educators' core beliefs. The purpose of this study was to describe the medical educators' beliefs about the alignment of the learning goals with teaching and assessment processes in the context of the curriculum changes. METHOD: A qualitative method was used to study the medical educators' beliefs through selecting the faculty participants via a purposeful sampling strategy. The study was conducted at a Medical School in Iran. For the individual interviews, we invited both the professors of the basic sciences and the clinical professors who had thought medical students for at least 5 years. Ten educators were interviewed. RESULT: The results of the research showed that, in the professors' viewpoints, the development of competencies in the students has been abandoned and this is due to the priority of treatment to education in the clinical courses and the limited learning experiences. Moreover, the gap between the content and the context and the attendance of the students in the hospitals instead of the clinics to pass their internship courses has reduced the provision of authentic learning experiences. These conditions have affected the quality of education negatively. The non-systematic assessment has also worsened the situation. CONCLUSION: Despite the changes in the curriculum, the compartmentalization of the curriculum and the structure of the medical education have caused the professors' beliefs to be in line with the past perspectives. Some modifications in the structure of the curriculum seem to be necessary.

Assessment of burnout and associated factors among medical educators.

OBJECTIVE: To assess burnout in medical educators and to identify factors associated with it. METHODS: A sequential mixed methods research study was conducted over eight months from July 2018 until February 2019. Participants included medical educators, who are studying for or graduated with a postgraduate qualification in medical education. An online questionnaire was developed using Maslach Burnout Inventory to collect quantitative data. The findings were explored in-depth qualitatively. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated for the quantitative data using SPSS 20. For qualitative data, we performed thematic analysis. RESULTS: Of total 160 medical educationists, 101 responded giving 63.1% response rate. Mean age was 41.4 years and majority 53.5% were females. Overall aggregate mean burnout level was 12.34 ± 7.36 whereas sub-domains of Maslach burnout inventory (MBI) like i) emotional exhaustion, ii) depersonalization and iii) personal accomplishment were found out to be 19.59, 10.42 and 11.21 respectively. Most respondents had moderate 71 (70.3%) emotional exhaustion and 8 (8.9%) had severe emotional exhaustion. Average level of depersonalization was suffered by 73 (72.3%) respondents and severe level was observed in 20 (19.8%) respondents. Personal accomplishment was found low in all 101 (100.0%) respondents. Selective in-depth interviews revealed that coping mechanisms like social gatherings, indoor and outdoor game facilities and outings and leisure time should be strategized for faculties. CONCLUSION: In this study medical educators were found to have quite high level of burnout. The early career medical educators feels emotionally exhausted, with low sense of personal accomplishment.

A proposal to introduce dental trauma into medical education: An insight.

THE PROBLEM: This proposal aims to tackle the common poor management of traumatic dental injury (TDI) by medical doctors and subsequent poor healthcare outcomes for patients. The literature reports that most medical doctors, in either private practice or hospital emergency departments, lack the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to adequately assess and manage victims of TDI. This is due to little or no clinical dentistry and dental trauma education being included in their medical studies. THE GAP IN THE LITERATURE: From a review of the literature, there is a clear lack of learning provision for medical students on the topic of dental anatomy and trauma. In addition, there appears to be no formal university theoretical and clinical training during medical school. THE PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The introduction of dental trauma into the medical curriculum will provide students with a better understanding of the importance of early management for better patient outcomes. Medical doctors competent in managing emergency dental trauma procedures will be able to provide a higher standard of care that could prevent potentially lifelong negative repercussions for the patient.

Advancing scholarship by publishing curriculum as an e-book.

Background: Medical educators provide service by developing curricula and writing learning material. In addition, academic institutions expect medical educators to publish scholarship to be considered for promotion and academic advancement. Unfortunately, educators may receive limited time to execute these duties and expectations. One way medical educators can streamline their workload is by publishing educational coursework they have previously written into an e-book through an online publisher. This allows them to transform educational service they have already completed into scholarship required for academic recognition, thus maximizing the efficient use of their time. Intervention: Publishing educational material as an e-book requires four steps. First, medical educators must determine which of their educational materials is best suited for publishing as an e-book. Second, educators must rank the features of each e-book publisher and choose the one that best meets their needs. Third, the educational material must be adapted as a manuscript and submitted for publication. Finally, the e-book must be advertised, promoted, and distributed to its intended audience. In addition, the success of the project should be evaluated. To illustrate this process, we describe the steps we took to publish the learning material we created for our internal medicine residents into an e-book. Lessons Learned: The overall process took approximately 3 months and went smoothly. For future publications, we would determine better ways to track the number of downloads of the e-book, ensure all of our images are adequately large, and consider the use of academic, rather than commercial e-book publishers.

Twelve tips for addressing ethical concerns in the implementation of artificial intelligence in medical education.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds immense potential for revolutionizing medical education and healthcare. Despite its proven benefits, the full integration of AI faces hurdles, with ethical concerns standing out as a key obstacle. Thus, educators should be equipped to address the ethical issues that arise and ensure the seamless integration and sustainability of AI-based interventions. This article presents twelve essential tips for addressing the major ethical concerns in the use of AI in medical education. These include emphasizing transparency, addressing bias, validating content, prioritizing data protection, obtaining informed consent, fostering collaboration, training educators, empowering students, regularly monitoring, establishing accountability, adhering to standard guidelines, and forming an ethics committee to address the issues that arise in the implementation of AI. By adhering to these tips, medical educators and other stakeholders can foster a responsible and ethical integration of AI in medical education, ensuring its long-term success and positive impact.

In the ever-evolving landscape of medical education, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands out as a revolutionary innovation with the potential to reshape learning methodologies and advance healthcare practices.However, this transformative journey is impeded by ethical concerns that demand careful attention.This reflects a delicate balance that educators must strike between embracing innovation and ensuring responsible implementation.The twelve provided tips serve as a practical guide, highlighting the complexities involved in incorporating AI ethically.By following these guidelines, educators contribute to shaping a healthcare workforce that is not only technologically proficient but also ethically grounded.

Medical Education Electives Can Promote Teaching and Research Interests Among Medical Students.

Introduction: Although all residents routinely teach medical students, not all residents are involved in teaching or trained in teaching during undergraduate medical school, as accreditation bodies do not mandate the promotion of teaching skills to undergraduate medical students. With relatively inadequate formal training and residents' intrinsic time constraints, tactically incorporating formal medical education elective experiences in medical school curricula is understandable. This study explores if medical education electives at Avalon University School of Medicine (AUSOM) can enhance medical students' interest in teaching and research. Methods: The medical education elective at AUSOM was developed to give interested medical students an elective experience. The course modules include accreditation/regulation, curriculum development, learning theories, assessments, and research methodology. Students can choose any one of the modules. We offered the medical education elective to twenty-five students in the year 2021. All of them gave feedback at the end of the elective. The data was analyzed qualitatively through framework analysis, which includes familiarization, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing, and defining and naming themes. Results: Different themes emerged, enhancing the interest in academic medicine, understanding research methodologies, supporting learners, and awareness of learning theories. Conclusion: Doing medical education electives at AUSOM enhanced students' interest in teaching, and students reported that they could understand research methodologies, especially those related to medical education. Medical students should have opportunities for electives in medical education, and more research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of medical education electives across medical schools.

Promotion Criteria for Medical Educators: Are We Climbing a Ladder with Invisible Rungs?

OBJECTIVE: In 2006 the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended standardization of documentation of the contributions of medical educators and guidelines for their academic promotion. The authors characterized current United States (US) medical school promotion guidelines for medical educators. METHODS: Authors collected publicly available data from medical school promotion websites from March through July 2022 after determining categories by traditional-set domains as well as peer-reviewed standards. Extracted data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and frequencies were calculated for nominal and categorical data. RESULTS: Of 155 medical schools identified, promotion criteria were publicly available for 143 (92%) schools. Ninety-one (64%) schools identified a distinct educator track. Of those with a defined educator track, 44 (48%) schools consider workshops or other media when evaluating candidates for promotion, and only 52 (57%) of schools with a specified educational track require additional documentation of teaching or education as part of their promotion process. Notably, 34 (37%) of the 91 schools with an educator track specifically require an Educational Portfolio, compared to 27 (52%) of the 52 schools that do not have a specific educator track for promotion. CONCLUSION: This study describes the current lack of clarity and consistency of the promotion criteria for medical educators and indicates that the guidelines proposed by the Association of American Medical Colleges over 15 years ago have not been widely adopted. These data amplify previous calls for a more objective set of criteria for evaluating and recognizing the contributions of medical educators.

Incorporating a Growth Mindset Model Into Medical Education and Enhancing the Complex Problem-Solving Abilities and Mental Resilience of Medical Students and Residents.

Peking Union Medical College Hospital and the University of Chicago have established a robust partnership characterized by collaboration and camaraderie. These two institutions engage in productive interactions and exchanges concerning resident physician training, teaching methodologies, and specialized academic collaborations. In July 2019, Peking Union Medical College Hospital sent senior physicians to the University of Chicago for their inaugural participation in the International Medical Educators Program (IMEP). In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IMEP transitioned to an online training format. The IMEP course for 2024 features a hybrid model of both offline and online instruction, marking the return to in-person teaching for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. This year's curriculum primarily emphasizes 'Curriculum Development for Medical Education: A Six-Step Approach.' Furthermore, the organizers have planned a diverse array of teaching topics, including Learning Theory, Clinical Competence Assessment, Outpatient Teaching Skills, Teaching on the Fly, Residents as Teachers, Bedside Teaching Skills, Coaching in Medical Education, Online Teaching Skills, Peer Coaching, and Growth Mindset in a Fixed Mindset Culture. Among the courses that significantly broadened my perspective and deepened my understanding, the lecture delivered by Professor James N. Woodruff from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, titled 'Growth Mindset in a Fixed Mindset Culture,' left the most profound impression on me. The development of a growth mindset is essential for medical students. Professor Woodruff underscored this point in the course "Growth Mindset in a Fixed Mindset Culture," emphasizing that the future of medical practice will be characterized by complex and dynamic challenges. In this context, errors and mistakes are unavoidable, highlighting the need to shift focus from static abilities to continuous growth. To date, the growth mindset framework established by the Pritzker School of Medicine Well-Being Committee has yielded remarkable results. The successful experience of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine has prompted me to conduct a more in-depth analysis of our own practices. Specifically, within the Department of Internal Medicine at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, we have encountered some challenges in the standardized training of residents in recent years. Additionally, there has been a notable increase in the emotional challenges faced by residents. Consequently, it is essential to draw lessons from the successful practices of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and to incorporate growth mindset-related training into our resident training system. This integration aims to enhance residents' abilities to navigate complex situations and solve intricate problems. More importantly, it fosters mental resilience, equipping residents to better manage stress and setbacks. The cultivation of a growth mindset is crucial not only for residents but also for senior physicians, as we all confront the complexities of the medical environment, the uncertainties associated with diseases, and the challenges inherent in our professional development. Effectively addressing these challenges requires the support of a growth mindset.

A Volunteer Passion: A Qualitative Look at How We Measure and Reward the Work of Medical Educators.

Background  Medical educators face many challenges, including the absence of defined roles, lack of standard career paths, and limited support in systems that generally prioritize research and clinical productivity over educational activities. Providers also teach to widely varying degrees. This study was designed to specifically examine the professional rewards and obstacles experienced by physicians who have dedicated significant energy and career focus to medical education. Methodology A phenomenological approach was used in this qualitative study. Purposeful sampling was utilized to identify medical educators from different institutions and geographical areas. Participants were categorized by gender and career stage. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop themes across items and participants. Results Twenty-two medical educators were interviewed (11 males, 11 females), with an average age of 51 (range: 38-72) years. The average time from completion of training was 18 years (range: <1 to 41 years). Two main themes were constructed, which related to medical educators' career motivations and challenges: (1) Joy and purpose (subthemes: Interaction with learners, Impact, and Innovation) and (2) Everyone teaches (subthemes: Lack of recognition, Lack of reward, Malalignment of metrics) Conclusions The greatest source of motivation and satisfaction for medical educators is linked to the work itself; in addition to interactions with learners, educators derive pleasure from the innovation, collaboration, and systems thinking involved in their work. Importantly, participants also experience dissatisfaction, primarily due to a lack of recognition and reward, and metrics that do not consistently demonstrate their achievements. Participants provided examples of metrics that more accurately reflected the work of education; they identified clear benefits of academic promotion; and they highlighted significant challenges in the promotional system. The implementation of appropriate systems of measurement and reward is needed to better support the work of medical educators. Our aim should be not only to increase opportunities for satisfaction but also to reduce factors that cause frustration and limit advancement.

Medical Educators' Perceptions and Experiences of Transgender Curriculum in Barbados.

Purpose: This study explored medical educators' understanding of the term transgender and their attitudes and perspectives regarding (1) health system responsiveness to transgender needs and (2) transgender curriculum in medical education. Methods: The study employed purposive sampling of medical educators responsible for design and delivery of curriculum. Fifteen of 18 eligible educators participated in Zoom focus groups (FG1 n=7, FG2 n=8). FGs averaged 93 min and were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a qualitative interpretivist methodology with deductive and inductive coding assisted by NVivo 12 Pro software. Results: Educators were knowledgeable about the term transgender and the physical and psychosocial needs of transgender people. Participants viewed transgender care as a significant emerging health area. However, infrequent personal or clinical contact, coupled with constraints in human and other resources, resulted in the perception that transgender content as a stand-alone component of curriculum is difficult to justify. Participants articulated a need for broad-based diversity content, including disabilities, primarily at the undergraduate level. Educators saw transgender health as relevant for undergraduate-level psychiatry and postgraduate medical specializations. Analysis and discussion framed participant perspectives in the context of stigma, discrimination, and medicolegal and health systems that impede access to health care for transgender people. Conclusion: Participants demonstrated knowledge of transgender and transgender health care needs. Areas for improvements in health care responsiveness were identified, particularly related to structural stigma and discrimination. Although participants expressed interest in including transgender health in the curriculum, this would require pragmatic optimization of teaching resources.

What is important to medical students' online learning of dental trauma in medical education.

Traumatic dental injury (TDI), a topic not normally offered in the medical curriculum is made available through the medical school as an online learning course. Online learning provides an educational pathway for cross-disciplinary learning without any change to the existing curriculum. This research identified important key features that should be included in the design of an online course to provide a positive online learning experience for medical students. Ten important features were identified for medical educators to consider when they develop an online course to introduce dental trauma. These features are (1) prioritising information to TDI, (2) providing specific facts and information to TDI, (3) information must be easily retrieved, (4) providing career-related information, (5) promoting self-confidence, (6) promoting learning of new knowledge, (7) easy-to-understand content materials, (8) establishing a logical sequence of learning, (9) visual illustrations to complement written text and (10) promoting self-directed learning.

Being kind in unkind spaces: a qualitative examination of how medical educators and first year medical students perceive empathy training.

Introduction: It has become de rigueur for healthcare systems to tout their ability to provide compassionate medical care that addresses the emotional as well as physical needs of patients. Not surprisingly, then, there is considerable pressure on medical schools to train their students to be empathic. Existing literature on empathy training in medicine tends to focus on how to build emotional intelligence in individual trainees, largely ignoring the sociocultural factors that contribute to or thwart empathy development in medical school. Additionally, research tends to examine student perspectives, with little attention given to medical educators and their viewpoints. Methods: In this paper, we adopt an "emotion practice" framework and utilize an inductive descriptive study design to qualitatively consider how first year medical students (N = 23) and their instructors (N = 9) perceive empathy training at a site we call Midtown Medical School. Results and discussion: We find that both groups have an understanding of empathic capital but differ in their beliefs about the utility and legitimacy of this capital. Both educators and students also recognize the limitations of standardized empathy curriculum but do not agree on the implications of such rote learning. Finally, students and instructors alike find the hidden curriculum of medical school to be antithetical to empathy development, concurring that it is difficult to cultivate empathy in spaces where biomedical coursework is prioritized over social-emotional learning. In short, both groups find it difficult to be kind in an unkind place.

Data Science as a Core Competency in Undergraduate Medical Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care.

The increasingly sophisticated and rapidly evolving application of artificial intelligence in medicine is transforming how health care is delivered, highlighting a need for current and future physicians to develop basic competency in the data science that underlies this topic. Medical educators must consider how to incorporate central concepts in data science into their core curricula to train physicians of the future. Similar to how the advent of diagnostic imaging required the physician to understand, interpret, and explain the relevant results to patients, physicians of the future should be able to explain to patients the benefits and limitations of management plans guided by artificial intelligence. We outline major content domains and associated learning outcomes in data science applicable to medical student curricula, suggest ways to incorporate these themes into existing curricula, and note potential implementation barriers and solutions to optimize the integration of this content.

Validation of the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) among medical educators in Hong Kong: a confirmatory factor analysis.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pre-existing global crisis of physician burnout. Physician and particularly medical educator well-being, has come into focus as educators can influence their own and learners' well-being. Measuring this construct is one important step towards promoting well-being in the work and learning environments. The 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) has been validated in different populations worldwide for assessing well-being. Yet, its psychometric acceptability remains unexplored among medical educators in Asia including Hong Kong (HK). This study evaluates the validity of the WHO-5 when used among HK medical educators. METHOD: Using data from 435 medical educators, we employed combined within-network (confirmatory factor analysis; CFA) and between-network approaches (correlation and regression) to scale validation. RESULTS: CFA results indicated that our data fit the a priori WHO-5 model, suggesting structural validity. Results of comparison of means indicated no gender differences, but there were significant differences when participants were compared by age and professional backgrounds. Resilience predicted well-being as measured by the WHO-5, suggesting construct criterion validity. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings extend the validity evidence for the WHO-5 to HK medical educators examined in this study. This enables their well-being to be assessed when evaluating the impact of future well-being programmes.

Reinvigorating an Academy of Medical Educators Using Ecological Systems Theory.

The educational framework of communities of practice postulates that early learners join medical communities as social networks that provide a common identity, role modeling and mentorship, and experiential learning. While being elected into a medical society is an honor, member engagement in these groups can falter if the society membership is seen as an honorific rather than one requiring continuing participation. As an example, Academies of Medical Educators have been established by many academic medical centers to encourage collaboration, skill development, professional identity formation, and scholarship. The University of North Carolina established the Academy of Educators in 2006 to create a diverse community of educators to promote the scholarship, teaching skills, and professional identity of educators. Despite rapid growth to over 500 members, we had less than 30 participants at events over the 2017-2018 academic year. To increase member engagement and participation, our academy leadership team used Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory to design interventions at each layer of environmental influence, specifically at the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem levels. In this paper, we describe the multipronged approach used to increase the University of North Carolina Academy of Medical Educators event attendance from 30 to 1,000 faculty participants over the course of one academic year (2018-2019). This paper provides a model as to how medical societies can use ecological systems theory as a natural and comprehensive approach to plan and improve their member engagement and experience.

The priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching perceived by clinicians from different disciplines: a Hong Kong case study.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of a well-rounded syllabus that emphasises both interpersonal and medical dimensions in clinical communication, medical students in the early stages of their career may find it challenging to effectively communicate with patients, especially when dealing with perceived priorities and challenges across different disciplines. METHODS: To explore the priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching as perceived by clinicians from different clinical disciplines, we recruited nine medical educators, all experienced frontline clinicians, from eight disciplines across seven hospitals and two medical schools in Hong Kong. They were interviewed on their clinical communication teaching in the Hong Kong context, specifically its priorities, challenges, and scope. We then performed interpretative phenomenological analysis of the interview data. RESULTS: The interview data revealed five themes related to the priorities, challenges, and scope of clinical communication teaching across a wide range of disciplines in the Hong Kong context, namely (1) empathising with patients; (2) using technology to teach both the medical and interpersonal dimensions of clinical communication; (3) shared decision-making with patients and their families: the influence of Chinese collectivism and cultural attitudes towards death; (4) interdisciplinary communication between medical departments; and (5) the role of language in clinician-patient communication. CONCLUSIONS: Coming from different clinical disciplines, the clinicians in this study approached the complex nature of clinical communication teaching in the Hong Kong context differently. The findings illustrate the need to teach clinical communication both specifically for a discipline as well as generically. This is particularly important in the intensive care unit, where clinicians from different departments frequently cooperate. This study also highlights how communication strategies, non-verbal social cues, and the understanding of clinical communication in the Hong Kong Chinese context operate differently from those in the West, because of differences in sociocultural factors such as family dynamics and hierarchical social structures. We recommend a dynamic teaching approach that uses role-playing tasks, scenario-based exercises, and similar activities to help medical students establish well-rounded clinical communication skills in preparation for their future clinical practice.

Analysis and suggestions on medical educators' roles.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the differences in the perception between professors and students regarding medical educators' roles and discuss their desirable roles. METHODS: A survey was administered to 116 professors and 379 students of the medical colleges from Dankook University and Hallym University. The subjects were given a self-created questionnaire designed to measure their perception of medical educators' roles. RESULTS: First, "student performance management" for professors and "teaching skill development" for students were recognized as the most essential medical educators' role. Second, females students perceived the roles to be more important than males in eight of 10 roles. CONCLUSION: First, "student performance management" for professors and "teaching skill development" for students were recognized as the most essential medical educators' role. Second, females students perceived the roles to be more important than males in eight of 10 roles.