What do medical students think are characteristics of a good ultrasound tutor? A qualitative study

Purpose
This study was designed to elicit medical students’ opinions on the characteristics of a good ultrasound tutor. The results should help educators to create an optimal teaching environment and inform tutor training.

Materials and methods
The qualitative study recruited 15 participants from a larger mixed-methods study of 64 medical students who underwent a basic course on abdominal ultrasound taught by faculty and near-peer tutors. During semi-structured interviews, they were asked which characteristics make a good ultrasound tutor. We used inductive thematic analysis to identify the most important categories.

Results
Medical students identified teaching themes and subthemes relating to teaching skills (e.g., course structure, repetition, vocabulary, feedback, guidance of participants), tutors’ attitudes (e.g., atmosphere creation, empathy) and knowledge as the crucial components of being a good ultrasound tutor.

Conclusions
While some of the themes that students identified are generic to medical education, others are specific to ultrasound teaching. Tutors can use our results to assess their own teaching. They should aim to address learning needs, optimise understanding, give adequate feedback, and create a non-threatening atmosphere with empathic interactions. Accounting for the ultrasound-specific setting they should possess the necessary knowledge, provide verbal guidance to their students, and distribute examination time wisely.