337 - Learner Perceptions of Teaching Quantity and Techniques During Pediatric Bedside Rounds

Publication Number: 4330.337

Nina Gupta, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, United States; Nehal Thakkar, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, United States; Anna Kushnir, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, United States; Sandra Gage, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, United States; Reina Patel, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, United States; Lisa J.. Fox, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, United States; Lucia Mirea, Phoenix Children's, Scottsdale, AZ, United States

Background: Bedside teaching is central to medical training, yet trainees often report it is underutilized and constrained by clinical demands. While peer observation studies have examined quantity of teaching and use of various teaching methods from the attending perspective, little is known about the resident viewpoint and how perceptions of teaching moments in real time may vary by role during rounds.

Objective: This study compares the quantity of teaching and types of teaching techniques utilized during bedside rounds, as perceived by participating versus observing trainees.

Design/Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary children's hospital from April to August 2025. Before rounds, residents viewed an educational video on the 11 teaching methods being studied. Twenty inpatient rounds led by 16 hospitalists with 59 participating residents were observed. Observers included a hospital medicine fellow and four senior residents; the fellow's independent observations served as a consistent control across all observations. Observers recorded the number and types of teaching techniques on standardized forms. After rounds, participating residents completed surveys assessing perceived quantity and type of teaching. Descriptive statistics summarized all variables, and non-parametric analyses compared responses between rounding residents and matched observers.

Results: A total of 39 observation forms were completed by observers. Forty-four post-rounds surveys were completed by participating residents (PGY-1: 61%, PGY-2: 16%, PGY-3: 23%). The mean number of teaching points identified by observing resident versus fellow per session were comparable (9.16 vs 10.2, p = 0.23). Among participating residents, 50% reported receiving 6-10 teaching points per rounds, 25% reported 0-5 and 25% reported ≥ 11 teaching points. The most frequently identified techniques by participating residents were broadening, up-the-ladder, and multi-answer/no right answer (Figure 1). Observers most often identified targeting, teaching the team through teaching the family, and multi-answer/no right answer (Figure 2).

Conclusion(s): Both levels of observers identified a similar number of teaching points. Likewise, participating residents recognized multiple teaching moments, most often between 6 to 10 per session. These findings challenge the assumption that learners overlook bedside teaching. The results also highlight diverse teaching approaches utilized by attendings and variability in techniques recognized by learners, which warrants further exploration into individual learner qualities that impact how teaching is perceived.

Figure 1: Teaching Techniques Identified by Participating Residents
Distribution of teaching techniques identified by participating residents during bedside rounds (n = 44 post-rounds surveys). Values represent the total number of times each technique was reported across respondents. "Multi/No Right Answer" = Multi-Answer/No Right Answer; "Teaching Family" = Teaching the Team Through Teaching the Family.

Figure 2: Teaching Techniques Identified by Observing Trainees
Distribution of teaching techniques identified by observing trainees (residents and fellow) during bedside rounds. Each bar represents the total number of times a given technique was independently recorded by that observer. "Multi/No Right Answer" = Multi-Answer/No Right Answer; "Teaching Family" = Teaching the Team Through Teaching the Family.