Student’s perspective of Residents as educators following introduction of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-International (ACGME-I) in SingHealth Residency

Singapore’s postgraduate medical education underwent a transition in 2010, moving away from the House staff model to the American Residency model. Teaching was defined as a core competency for SingHealth Residency programs. This study sought to determine how this transition impacted medical students’ perception of Residents as teachers.Methods: A 19-item Likert-type questionnaire comprising three domains—(1) quality, (2) frequency and (3) engagement—was given to all Duke-NUS medical students at the end of each clerkship from the academic year (AY) 2009–10 through 2013–14. The first two academic years were classified as the pre-initiation stage of the Residency, and the latter three, the post-initiation stage. Students rated Residents they encountered in their most recent clerkship.Results: Student ratings have gradually improved, with the largest improvement occurring after the initiation of Residency, and after the introduction of Residents as Future Teachers courses. Student ratings in the post-initiation Residency years combined were significantly higher than the pre-initiation of Residency years combined, for all three domains. Analysis of individual items revealed significant improvement in student ratings on all items in all domains, except for the quality of teaching in performing procedural skills.Conclusion: Findings from this study indicate a positive shift in the teaching culture with the transition of Singapore’s postgraduate medical education from the House staff model to the Residency program.