Practical tips for bedside teaching of infectious diseases practice to junior doctors

Infectious diseases, being a cognitive specialty, is commonly perceived to be difficult to teach at the bedside. Most junior doctors have had variable amounts of exposure to infectious diseases as medical students, primarily in the form of lectures as part of a microbiology curriculum. Teaching principles of infectious diseases practice to junior doctors is essential to develop good antibiotic prescribing skills. We suggest a practical guide with 3 x 3 steps to teach infectious disease practice at the bedside. We have attempted to outline the anticipated problems with the instruction of Infectious disease practice in the clinical setting and then have proceeded to adopt an expanded version of the clinical micro-skills model to address those gaps.