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Introduction Much of undergraduate clinical teaching is provided by residents. An earlier study showed the attitude of residents towards teaching to be generally positive. Little is known, however, about attending doctors' views on their own and residents' roles as teachers of medical students. Objectives To examine attending doctors' perceptions of the (dis)advantages of resident teaching, their own teaching abilities and the need for a teacher training programme for residents. Method A questionnaire survey of 76 attending doctors was carried out in the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Paediatrics at the teaching hospitals of the Universities of Maastricht and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Results Attending doctors perceive teaching by residents to be beneficial for students and residents alike. Although they consider themselves to be better suited than residents to teach medical students, they see teaching as an integral part of residency training and feel it should be recognised as such by departments and medical schools. Attending doctors are in favour of a teacher training programme for residents, which should include communication, clinical and teaching skills as well as skills such as time management and (self-) assessment. Discussion Despite the uneven distribution of participants between the departments, no significant differences were found between departments. It is interesting that attending doctors perceive teacher training as beneficial to residents' teaching skills, but provide more feedback on residents' attitudes than on their teaching. The results show that, in general, attending doctors share residents' views that teaching is an important component of residency and that a teacher training programme for residents is to be recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to an article about pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain in the April 2007 issue.

Objective: Although there has been much debate on whether women should be allowed to eat and drink during labour, little scientific data are available on the effects of caloric intake on the course of labour., Design: Double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled., Setting: Leyenburg Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands., Population: Two hundred and one consecutive nulliparous women, pregnant of a single fetus in cephalic presentation., Methods: All women were included in early labour (2cm-4cm of cervical dilatation) and were allowed to drink at will., Main Outcome Measures: The duration of labour, the need for augmentation and pain medication and the incidence of abdominal and vaginal instrumental deliveries., Results: Drinking of carbohydrate solutions was well tolerated, but did not show any beneficial effects regarding labour outcome when compared with the control group. In the carbohydrate group, a higher caesarean section rate was observed (RR 2.9, 95% CI 1.29-6.54)., Conclusions: Women in the carbohydrate group had worse labour outcome. It is unclear whether a statistical coincidence, a negative effect of the carbohydrate intake or an incorrect carbohydrate intake strategy is responsible for these results. Further studies are necessary before any definite conclusion can be drawn.