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What clinical teachers in medicine need to know.
Abstract
In order to identify the components of knowledge that effective clinical teachers of medicine need, the author carried out a qualitative study of six distinguished clinical teachers in general internal medicine in 1991. Using data from interviews, a structured task, and observations of each ward team, he identified six domains of knowledge essential to teaching excellence in the context of teaching rounds: clinical knowledge of medicine, patients, and the context of practice, as well as educational knowledge of learners, general principles of teaching and case-based teaching scripts. When combined, these domains of knowledge allow attending physicians to engage in clinical instructional reasoning and to target their teaching to the specific needs of their learners. The results of this investigation are discussed in relation to both prior research on teacher knowledge, reasoning, and action and faculty development in medicine.
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“Recognition of feedback occurring is an important prerequisite to interpreting and understanding its message”
From Medical student perceptions of feedback and feedback behaviors within the context of the “educational alliance.” (2017) · cites this paper as [12]
In the citing paper
“but learners may not always recognize feedback. 4,11,12”
From Medical student perceptions of feedback and feedback behaviors within the context of the “educational alliance.” (2017) · cites this paper as [12]
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Items 401–439 of 439
The Power of One: Engagement as the Key to Highly Effective Clinical Instruction
Pratt, D. D., & Arseneau, R. (2006) · New Prairie Press (Kansas State University)
Qamar, K. (2015) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals)
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Sahu, R., Rath, S., Rath, B., et al. (2017) · IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences · doi:10.9790/0853-1605124549
“Learning becomes more effective if the method involves more of a participatory type of teaching [4]”
MethodAdvanced Teaching Skills for the Fast-paced OR
Brzeziński, M., & Mitchell, J. (2015) · ASA Refresher Courses in Anesthesiology · doi:10.1097/asa.0000000000000037
Annals of Pediatrics & Child Health Feedback in the Clinical
Gigante, J. (2014)
12: Something More: Moments of Meeting and the Teacher-Learner Relationship
Tiberius, R. G., Teshima, J., & Kindler, A. R. (2003) · To improve the academy · doi:10.1002/j.2334-4822.2003.tb00389.x
STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE OF A COMPETENT MEDICAL TEACHER: A QUALITATIVE STUDY
Jayaprakash, R., & Sharija, S. (2017) · Indian Journal of Child Health · doi:10.32677/ijch.2017.v04.i04.003
“Irby in his famous qualitative study proposed that an effective clinical teacher need to have clinical knowledge of medicine, patients and context of practice as well as educational knowledge of learners, general principles of teaching, and case-based teaching scripts [15].”
BackgroundResultWarnock, T. G. (2017) · University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) · doi:10.12794/metadc1062801
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Irish (2018) · Digital Repository Service (Northeastern University) · doi:10.17760/d20281674
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Acquisition of pedagogical knowledge by instructors of veterinary medicine
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Communicating with Student Pharmacists
O’Sullivan, T. A. (2021) · The American Pharmacists Association eBooks · doi:10.21019/preceptor.2021.1001.4
12: Something More: Moments of Meeting and the Teacher–Learner Relationship
Tiberius, R. G., Teshima, J., & Kindler, A. R. (2003) · To improve the academy · doi:10.3998/tia.17063888.0021.014
Martineau, B., Girard, G., & Boulé, R. (2008) · Pédagogie médicale · doi:10.1051/pmed:2008012
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(2003) · To improve the academy · doi:10.3998/tia.17063888.0021.021
Moral, R. R., Martín, D. M., Montero, S. Á., Barba, E. C., de Leonardo, C. G., & Martínez, F. C. (2022) · Educación Médica · doi:10.1016/j.edumed.2022.100762
Expectation of Undergraduates on Teachers in Professional Colleges - A Survey
Kamaladevi, & Brundha, M. P. (2023) · International Journal of Advanced Research in Science Communication and Technology · doi:10.48175/ijarsct-14381
Hale, S., Petrescu, M., Carbajal, M., Sur, M., Burns, A. M., & Thammasitboon, S. (2024) · Medical Teacher · doi:10.1080/0142159x.2024.2436454
“There is a wealth of literature describing the attributes of effective clinical teachers [1,3,4,6,17], but less is known about the obstacles they face on the path to becoming master clinical teachers (MCTs).”
InfluentialChallenges in medical education
Henning, M. A., Doherty, I., Brown, M. E. L., & Lyndon, M. (2025) · doi:10.1093/med/9780192848710.003.0012
Teaching in the clinical setting
Klaber, B., Hamdy, H., Sepahzad, A., & Begin, A. S. (2025) · doi:10.1093/med/9780192848710.003.0001
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Miser, W. F. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-70741-4_26
Faculty Development for Teaching Improvement
Hodgson, C. S., Birkman, C., & Wilkerson, L. (2025) · Innovation and change in professional education · doi:10.1007/978-981-97-9372-3_2
Framing student navigation of feedback on placements
Boud, D. J., Molloy, E., & Chang, V. (2025) · Teaching in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/13562517.2025.2565779
“In a placement setting, this remit of ‘reading the environment’ is even steeper than in a classroom setting where the cues are more familiar and consistent over semesters (Antwertinger et al. 2020; Irby 1994).”
Research in Surgical Education
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Varga, Z., Pótó, Z., Czopf, L., et al. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13294808
Varga, Z., Pótó, Z., Czopf, L., et al. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13294805
Shammari, M. A. A. (2026) · SAGE Open Medicine · doi:10.1177/20503121261448293
Escourrou, E., & Oustric, S. (2026) · The Clinical Teacher · doi:10.1111/tct.70455
Elmi-Terander, A. (2026) · Cogent Education · doi:10.1080/2331186x.2026.2722499
Teacher Effectiveness in Clinical Teaching: Structural Equation Modeling
Zawawi, A. H. (2014) · Libraries and Cultural Resources (University of Calgary) · doi:10.11575/prism/27981
“It has been reported before that teaching competency is just as important as being a medical content expert (Irby, 1994).”
BackgroundInfluential
Metadata
- Authors
- Irby, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Irby, D M
- ORCID
- Irby, D M
- Venue
- Academic Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1994-05
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 333-42
- ISSN
- 1040-2446 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2094892399
- Cited by
- 434
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 9.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills
- Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
- Keywords
- clinical teaching, teacher knowledge, attending physicians, general internal medicine, teaching rounds, case-based teaching, faculty development, medical education, student needs
- MeSH terms
- Clinical Competence, Faculty, Medical, Humans, Internal Medicine, Teaching, Models, Educational
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