Barriers to Bedside Teaching: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Survey of Students and Faculty

Objective: To identify the barriers to bedside teaching among students and clinical faculty. Study Design: Cross sectional comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Dec 2019 to Jun 2020. Methodology: The study participants included undergraduate students, postgraduate students and clinical faculty members. A self-designed questionnaire listing 25 common barriers to bedside teaching was distributed after pilot testing. Results: The total number of participants was 160, out of which 78(48.75%) were males, and 82(51.25%) were females. There were 40 respondents in each of the categories of consultants, postgraduate trainees and 80 in the undergraduate student category. Twenty consultants (50%) were from Medicine and Allied specialties, 10(25%) from Surgical and Allied specialties while 10(25%) did not mention their specialty. Majority of postgraduate trainees 33(82.5%) were from Medicine and Allied specialties. Significant difference (p-value=0.004) was revealed among students and faculty regarding barriers to bedside teaching. Bedside teaching was accorded more value by faculty (p-value=0.026). Faculty deemed ambiguity in curriculum as a more important barrier as compared to the students (p-value=0.037). Common barriers identified by students were inadequate time allocation (p-value<0.001), large student groups (p-value<0.001), performance pressure on faculty (p-value=0.004), lack of problem solving skill teaching (p-value=0.028) and insufficient feedback (p-value=0.044). Conclusion: Students as well as faculty value the role of bedside teaching in medical education but are cognizant of significant barriers in its execution. There are a number of common impediments that are narrated by both groups but students accord more importance to larger gro