Clinical teachers as role models: perceptions of interns and residents in a Lebanese medical school

OBJECTIVE To identify the characteristics and learning impact of role models as perceived by interns and residents in an Arabic Middle Eastern country, Lebanon. METHODS A structured and self-administered questionnaire was sent to the cohort of interns (n = 34) and residents (n = 66) training in a Lebanese university hospital. The questionnaire contained pre-specified items related to professional and personal characteristics of positive and negative role models, as well as to the impact of these models on professional learning and career choices. Responders were asked to recognise and to rank-order the items associated to their identified models. RESULTS A total of 88 responders (97%) had positive role models and 87 responders (96%) had negative role models in their current training programme. Characteristics identified most frequently and ranked most highly by the trainees were related to clinical skills in positive role models and to inadequate humanistic and collaborative attitudes in negative models. Role modelling had a positive impact on the achievement of clinical skills for 55% of the responders, and on the acquisition of humanistic and collaborative attitudes for 30% of them. Thirty-eight per cent of the trainees were influenced by their role models in the choice of their specialities. Responses were generally comparable between levels of training and between medical and surgical specialities. CONCLUSION Clinical teachers, practising in a non-occidental cultural and medical learning environment, are considered very frequently as role models by their interns and residents and have a positive impact on their professional learning and career choices. Strategies to reinforce role modelling are needed in Lebanon, in order to pass a broad spectrum of professional values to our students.