Table 3.

Teaching themes identified by 'best teacher'attending gastroenterologists

Teaching style themes from 'best teacher'attending gastroenterologists	Representative examples (quotes from attending gastroenterologist interviews)
Prioritizing safety of patients	“Know your limitations”
Creating a positive learning climate	“…for the patient's sake, and also for the fellow's learning, you've got to keep it positive. Be calm. Be patient. No yelling.” “…while patience is important, I think being able to fake patience is also just as important. If you can’t be patient, at least pretend you are.”
Teaching to the level of the learner	“I would never ask a first-year who is trying to learn how to advance a scope 'So, what is the differential that you're thinking about here?', I just wouldn't do that to them because I just think their brain is just too busy and should be focusing on the technical [aspects].“
Setting goals and milestones for fellows	“Early on in the first year, you try to establish a concept… for example, keep a straight scope…and then demonstrating or teaching how you do that. So, keep a straight scope, means pull back and reduce, minimize air, for example.“
Explicit communication for troubleshooting	“The reason I took it [the scope] wasn't because you were doing a bad job, it was that a patient was screaming, so it wasn't a good situation”; “If I find a fellow is having a problem and not progressing and I have to help them, I will do it, but I will explain what I'm doing, or how I'm doing it, etc.”
Standing next to the fellow	“I'm right next to the fellow where I can see their hand movements and their dial work … I can anticipate their moves and when their having trouble … if they're trying to get through the sigmoid or it’s a difficult corner, I will try to imagine what I would do in that situation.”