Investigating the quality of clinical teaching in major wards of educational hospitals from the perspectives of faculty members and students

Background: Considering the important role of clinical teaching in creation and development of students’ clinical skills, challenges in clinical teaching, and lack of information due to the paucity of studies in this field, the present study aimed to investigate the clinical teaching status in major wards of the educational hospitals affiliated to Zahedan University of Medical Sciences from the perspectives of faculty members and medical students in 2019. Method: This cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study was conducted on the faculty members and students in major wards. The quality of clinical teaching was evaluated using Maastricht Clinical Teaching Questionnaire. Results: This study was conducted on 31 instructors and 142 students. The results revealed no significant difference among different wards regarding the score of clinical teaching quality from the perspective of instructors (internal ward: 97.3±10.4, surgical ward: 94.8±13.7, gynecology and obstetrics ward: 99.4±6.6, and pediatric ward: 93.2±6.3). In fact, the instructors believed that the quality of clinical teaching was excellent in all major wards. However, the results showed a significant difference among different wards with respect to the mean score of clinical teaching quality from the students’ perspective. Accordingly, the highest score was related to the pediatric ward (92.8±23.3) followed by the gynecology and obstetrics ward (81.1±27.9), internal ward (75.5±31.3), and surgical ward (66.6±19.6). Conclusion: Based on the results, identification of students’ expectations from educational programs and provision of instructors with feedbacks regarding students’ educational needs can improve the quality of clinical teaching.