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Published 2026-03-24
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Copyright (c) 2026 Rodolfo Armas Merino, María Isabel Behrens Pellegrino, Jorge Dagnino Sepúlveda , Karin Kleisteuber Sàa , Gloria López Stewart , Fernando Novoa Sotta , Antonio Orellana Tobar , María Eugenia Pinto Claude , Emilio Roessler Bonzi , Vicente Valdivieso Dávila
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The document emphasizes the critical role of tutorial instruction in clinical medicine as a fundamental component of physician training. The development of humanistic care, the doctor-patient relationship, diagnostic reasoning, prudent clinical decision-making, and professionalism occur through direct interaction between the student and the patient, under the guidance of qualified clinical tutors. These tutors serve a myriad of functions: role models, facilitators of learning, evaluators, advisors, and ethical mentors, while also helping students navigate the uncertainty inherent to medical practice.
The attributes of an ideal tutor include genuine motivation and enthusiasm for teaching, communication skills, up-to-date clinical proficiency, teaching skills, respectful treatment of patients, students, peers, and collaborators, and commitment to ethics and medical humanities.
Ensuring an adequate number of qualified tutors is an essential obligation of every medical school, stemming from their ethical and contractual responsibilities to both students and society. Persistent obstacles have been identified in Chile: variability in the quality and availability of tutors across medical schools, insufficient teacher training, lack of formally dedicated teaching time, limited recognition, and overlap with clinical duties. These factors hinder the recruitment and retention of clinical tutors.
It is recommended that systematic selection processes, continuous training, regular formative assessment, and institutional mechanisms for recognition and incentives be implemented. The document concludes with an urgent call for agreements among universities, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education to develop processes to coordinate teaching and clinical care, and to strengthen accreditation standards. These measures require a sufficient number of qualified tutors, with stable institutional affiliation and academic supervision, in both undergraduate programs and specialist training.