Longitudinal Study of Family Medicine Residents' Clinical Teaching After Participation in the Residents-as-Teachers Program

Residents-as-teachers (RAT) programs provide opportunities for residents to gain teaching skills. Published studies have assessed RAT programs largely at a single point in time rather than longitudinally. To address this gap, we examined (a) longitudinal trends in RAT participants' interest, comfort, confidence, skill, and familiarity with aspects of clinical teaching; and (b) subsequent involvement in clinical teaching. We conducted a longitudinal survey of one cohort of family medicine residents (N=56) who participated in the RAT program during residency. We collected data before and after the RAT program and at one and three years into practice (2016-2020). We measured outcomes including interest, comfort, confidence, skill, familiarity with aspects of clinical teaching and involvement in clinical teaching. We performed longitudinal analysis using repeated measures analysis of variance. Response rates at four data collections were 63% (n=35), 66% (n=37), 55% (n=31), and 34% (n=19), respectively. We observed consistent trends in interest, comfort, confidence, skill, and familiarity with aspects of clinical teaching; mean scores increased from before to after the RAT program and subsequently decreased in the early years in practice. At 1 and 3 years in practice, 71% and 74% of respondents, respectively, reported being involved in teaching, primarily teaching medical students. The RAT program appears to be a positive contributing influence on family medicine graduates' perceived preparedness to teach and their involvement in teaching after graduation from residency. A relatively high proportion of residents are involved in teaching in the early years in practice.