Motivation to teach surgery at non-university affiliated hospitals in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background: Most Saudi Arabian medical colleges rely on non-university affiliated hospitals for clinical training of their students. We explored what motivates or demotivates the surgeons who work in these hospitals to teach. Methods: Eighteen surgeons from five non-university affiliated hospitals in the Al-Qassim region of Saudi Arabia who were directly involved in teaching surgery participated in this qualitative study. The surgeons' in-depth interviews with a semi-structured questionnaire were audio-taped, transcribed, and analyzed to identify responses related to motivating and demotivating factors for teaching surgery. Results: Surgeons identified three unique factors related to teaching: (1) to accumulate spiritual credit for good deeds (motivating), (2) refusal by patients to be examined by trainees (demotivating), and (3) refusal by female patients to be examined by male trainees (demotivating). Additional motivating factors were self-satisfaction, earning a good reputation, updating knowledge, and witnessing the success of trainees. The demotivating factors were unenthused trainees, inadequate teaching settings at the hospitals, an absence of medico-legal protection for the trainees, a heavy workload, and no incentives for teaching activities. Conclusion: Providing student-trainees legal protection, offering incentives for teaching, and marketing the hospitals as training facilities will likely improve the teaching environment in non-university affiliated hospitals in Saudi Arabia.