[Providing successful education and further training: 10 tips].

Almost all physicians teach or provide postgraduate medical education from time to time. Although many people assume that there are 'born teachers' and 'those who will never learn to teach', teaching is an ability. The knowledge and skills required to teach well can be learned and practised.

Integrating continuing medical education and faculty development into a single course: effects on participants' behaviour.

Background: Integrating continuing medical education (CME) and faculty development (FD) into a single course can save time for physicians with teaching responsibilities. However, little is known about the effectiveness of integrated courses.

Aim: To determine if there are differences in effectiveness between the CME and FD items as they were integrated in one course.

[The mini-clinical evaluation exercise: from 'judgement' to 'guidance'].

The mini-clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) is a sort of test in which the assessor's evaluation is based on a short observation of the resident in a clinical situation. A mini-CEX is not an examination but a useful educational instrument to monitor and to foster the resident's development. The central concepts of a good mini-CEX are 'short' (limited both in content and duration) and 'often' (the more frequent the better).

Opportunities for the CTEI: disentangling frequency and quality in evaluating teaching behaviours.

Students' perceptions of teaching quality are vital for quality assurance purposes. An increasingly used, department-independent instrument is the (Cleveland) clinical teaching effectiveness instrument (CTEI). Although the CTEI was developed carefully and its validity and reliability confirmed, we noted an opportunity for improvement given an intermingling in its rating scales: the labels of the answering scales refer to both frequency and quality of teaching behaviours.

[Supervising students according to the STAMPPOT method: efficient integration of patient care and clinical teaching].

During the supervision of a registrar or house officer who has taken the history from a patient and has performed a physical examination, optimal patient care and education should be integrated. The 'One-Minute Preceptor Method' has already been described as a method that is suitable for this task. We have expanded on this method.

Gynaecological surgical training in the operating room: an exploratory study.

Objective: One of the challenging goals of gynaecological education is preparing trainees for independent practice of surgery. Research, however, on how to acquire surgical skills in the operating room safely, effectively and efficiently is scarce. We performed this study to explore trainers' and trainees' mutual expectations concerning operative training, to identify key aspects for improving learning and teaching in the operating theatre.

Core characteristics of the competent general practice trainer, a Delphi study.

Introduction: The specific skills, attitude, knowledge, and personality characteristics, which should define the competent GP-trainer have been subject of research for many years. What are the most important of these characteristics have yet to be delineated.

Aim: The aim of this study is to identify which characteristics are prerequisite for a competent GP-trainer.

What influences the quality of educational encounters between trainer and trainee in vocational training for general practice?

This study of educational encounters between a trainer and a trainee in vocational training for general practice investigates the quality of the encounter. The study focuses on the relation between the quality of the encounter and elements such as presence of feedback, duration, use of media, etc. A quality measure based on the Gagné and Briggs model for the design of instructional events was developed.

Unexpected pathological findings in skills training and assessing skills.

This article draws attention to unexpected pathological findings encountered by students and teachers when examining one another and/or simulated patients in skills training and assessment sessions.Although no literature on the subject was found, it appears to be not uncommon for students and teachers to find abnormalities during skills training and assessment. It is important that both students and teachers should be aware of this possibility and students should be encouraged to disclose any unexpected findings.