It's not just what you know: the non-cognitive attributes of great clinical teachers.

Although it is understood that great clinical teachers are knowledgeable about their subject matter, expertise in a given field does not always translate to excellence in teaching. This article resumes the series by the Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) examining the skills and strategies of great clinical teachers.1 Great clinical teachers recognize that “how” they teach is just as important as “what” they teach. This “how” consists of 2 parts: a positive learning environment2 and an enthusiastic, motivating, and respectful teacher.3,4 In an upcoming article, we will outline the benefits and structure of such a learning environment. But first, drawing from the medical education, business, leadership, and sports literature, we will consider “how” great clinical teachers get the best out of their students. They motivate them, they are enthusiastic, they are both leaders and coaches, they remain students themselves, and they have strategies for when things go wrong. ENCOURAGE SELF-MOTIVATION