Identifying oneself as a teacher: the perceptions of preceptors

INTRODUCTION: Attracting and retaining qualified medical educators will be a continuing challenge as physicians feel more pressure to produce clinical revenue. With this paper we hope to begin to identify how clinical teachers, judged as excellent by their peers, establish their professional identity as physician and teacher. METHOD: This qualitative study examines the views of 10 clinical teachers to identify the characteristics excellent preceptors attribute to their teaching identity. RESULTS: This study revealed four themes that influence faculty teaching identity: underlying humanitarianism, familiarity with adult learning principles, understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of teaching, and the image of self as teacher. CONCLUSION: Using the findings from this study, suggestions are given to faculty developers for activities to increase physician identity as teacher.