Optimizing teacher basic need satisfaction in distributed healthcare contexts.

Optimizing teacher motivation in distributed learning environments is paramount to ensure high-quality education, as medical education is increasingly becoming the responsibility of a larger variety of healthcare contexts. This study aims to explore teaching-related basic need satisfaction, e.g. teachers' feelings of autonomy, competence and relatedness in teaching, in different healthcare contexts and to provide insight into its relation to contextual factors. We distributed a digital survey among healthcare professionals in university hospitals (UH), district teaching hospitals (DTH), and primary care (PC). We used the Teaching-related Basic Need Satisfaction scale, based on the Self-Determination theory, to measure teachers' basic needs satisfaction in teaching. We studied relations between basic need satisfaction and perceived presence of contextual factors associated with teacher motivation drawn from the literature. Input from 1407 healthcare professionals was analyzed. PC healthcare professionals felt most autonomous, UH healthcare professionals felt most competent, and DTH healthcare professionals felt most related. Regardless of work context, teachers involved in educational design and who perceived more appreciation and developmental opportunities for teaching reported higher feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in teaching, as did teachers who indicated that teaching was important at their job application. Perceived facilitators for teaching were associated with feeling more autonomous and related. These results can be utilized in a variety of healthcare contexts for improving teaching-related basic need satisfaction. Recommendations for practice include involving different healthcare professionals in educational development and coordination, forming communities of teachers across healthcare contexts, and addressing healthcare professionals' intentions to be involved in education during job interviews.

A framework of teaching competencies across the medical education continuum.

BACKGROUND: The quality of teachers in higher education is subject of increasing attention, as exemplified by the development and implementation of guidelines for teacher qualifications at Universities in The Netherlands. AIM: Because medical education takes a special position in higher education the Council of Deans of Medical Schools in The Netherlands installed a national task force to explore a method to weigh criteria for teacher qualifications of medical teachers. METHODS: A framework was developed covering competencies of teachers throughout the medical education continuum and including medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine. RESULTS: The framework distinguishes 3 dimensions: (a) six domains of teaching (development - organization - execution - coaching - assessment - evaluation); (b) three levels in the organization at which teachers perform (micro, meso and macro level) and (c) competencies as integration of knowledge, skills and attitude and described as behaviour in specific context. The current framework is the result of several cycles of descriptions, feedback from the field and adaptations. It is meant as a guideline, leaving room for local detailing. CONCLUSION: The framework provides a common language that may be used not only by teachers and teacher trainers, but also by quality assurance committees, human resource managers and institutional boards.