ArticleAEM education and training2026
What Makes the Best Educator? A Qualitative Analysis of Emergency Medicine Resident Perspectives.
Article in AEM education and training, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- What Makes the Best Educator? A Qualitative Analysis of Emergency Medicine Resident Perspectives.AEM education and training · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Effective clinical educators are essential to emergency medicine (EM) residency training, and the pace and dynamics of the emergency department require them to have a unique educational skillset. Most existing literature defining educational excellence in EM reflects educator rather than learner perspectives, and there is limited contemporary, resident-centered work that describes the teaching practices of exceptional EM educators. This study aimed to identify EM resident-defined practices that characterize the "best" EM educators. Methods: We performed a qualitative thematic analysis to analyze open-ended survey responses from residents at a large, urban, 3 year EM residency program. All 78 residents were invited to complete an anonymous survey containing a single prompt to describe their best EM educator. Data were collected over 72 h in March 2025. Three investigators performed iterative open coding and applied constant comparative methods to identify themes. Postgraduate year (PGY) class was unblinded after analysis to explore patterns by training level. Results: Thirty-eight residents responded (48.7% response rate). Five themes emerged: (1) growth orientation, (2) psychological safety, (3) shares clinical burden, (4) educational expertise, including optimal timing and setting of teaching, knowledge translation, and fostering independence; and (5) clinical expertise, including content expertise and role modeling. In a secondary descriptive analysis, PGY-1s emphasized psychological safety, growth-oriented feedback, and autonomy, while PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents prioritized approachability, timely teaching, shared workload, and clinical expertise. Conclusions: Residents identified outstanding EM educators as growth-oriented, supportive, skilled teachers and expert clinicians, with preferences varying by training level. These themes may guide faculty development, coaching, and feedback as well as future studies on resident-centered educator training.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.