Factors Influencing Medical Education in Clinical Environment: Experiences of Clinical Faculty Members

Clinical teaching is a major part of medical education without which it is impossible to train competent physicians. With regard to the complexity of clinical teaching, current changes in medical environment and diverse roles of clinical teachers, the necessity of doing a comprehensive study on such phenomenon, was felt. This study aimed to explore effective background factors of clinical education based on clinical teachers’ experiences. This is a qualitative study with conventional content analysis. Data were collected through purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews conducted with clinical teachers, informal interviews conducted with the students, and field observations. Based on the obtained results of coding steps, educational structure, professional duties and motivational elements were background factors affecting clinical teaching. Education time constraints, diverse and overloaded duties of clinical teachers, lack of financial support, lack of an appropriate position for teaching, priority of research over education and the challenges in teachers’ role are the most important factors affecting clinical teaching. Making a change in educational structure to have a culture that values clinical teaching and respects that as a service can solve a lot of clinical teaching and clinical teachers’ problems. The findings of the present study can help the authorities in medical universities and faculty members to take strategies to promote the quality of clinical teaching.