Patient perceptions of bedside teaching rounds

Strategies to Improve Bedside Clinical Skills Teaching

The bedside encounter between a patient and physician remains the cornerstone of the practice of medicine. However, physicians and trainees spend less time in direct contact with patients and families in the modern healthcare system. The current pandemic has further threatened time spent with patients. This lack of time has led to a decline in clinical skills, and a decrease in the number of faculty who are confident in teaching at the bedside. In this review we offer several strategies to get physicians and trainees back to the bedside to engage in clinical skills teaching and assessment. We recommend that providers pause before bedside encounters to be present with patients and learners and develop clear goals for a bedside teaching session. We suggest that clinical teachers practice an evidence-based approach, including a hypothesis-driven physical examination. We encourage the use of point-of-care technology to assist in diagnosis and allow learners to calibrate traditional physical exam skills with real-time visualization of pathology. Tools like point-of-care ultrasound can be powerful levers to get learners excited about bedside teaching, and to engage patients in their clinical care. We value telemedicine visits as unique opportunities to engage with patients in their home environment and to participate in patient-directed physical exam maneuvers. Finally, we recommend that educators provide feedback to learners on specific clinical exam skills, whether in the clinic, the wards, or during dedicated clinical skills assessments.