Perceptions of teaching behaviors by primary care and non-primary care residents

Purpose. To ascertain the most helpful and least helpful faculty teaching behaviors as perceived by primary care and non-primary care residents and to assess differences in those perceptions between the two resident groups. Method. A cross-sectional mailed survey was undertaken in 1993-94 of all 1,046 residents (including interns) in U.S. Army graduate medical education programs. The survey asked the residents to rate the 38 teaching behaviors of Wolverton and Bosworth. Mean ratings were calculated for each teaching behavior, and the ratings of the two resident groups were compared using Kendall's coefficient of concordance. Results. In all, 490 (47%) of the residents responded: 191 (45%) of 421 in primary care, and 299 (48%) of 625 in non-primary care. The primary care and non-primary care groups had a high degree of concordance in ranking of the 38 teaching behaviors (W =.953). The exact rank orders differed slightly, but there was disagreement on only one behavior each within the rankings of both the ten most helpful and the ten least helpful behaviors. Conclusion. Army residents in all of the major specialties have similar perceptions of what they consider helpful behaviors from their faculty.