PRiMER
December 2025
Heather Brougham, DO; Carlos Rodriguez, PhD; and Melissa Johnson, MD—University of Colorado Anschutz Department of Family Medicine faculty—are coauthors of a new article titled, “To Teach or Not to Teach? Incentives and Barriers Impacting Clinical Preceptorship in Family Medicine,” published in Peer-Reviewed Reports in Medical Education research (PRiMER).
The study highlights the vital role clinical preceptors play in medical education and examines the factors that influence why they become, remain, or step away from serving in these roles. Family physicians affiliated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine participated in a cross-sectional survey that explored intrinsic motivators—such as a love of teaching, a sense of professional duty, and strong relationships with students—as well as barriers, including limited time to teach. The findings suggest that addressing the ongoing preceptor shortage will require strengthening the motivators preceptors value most and reducing the time burden associated with teaching.
Other coauthors associated with this article are Julia Kendrick, MA, and Dylan Mechling, MD.
From the article:
“Our study evaluated the motivations of family physicians when deciding whether to serve as preceptors. The love of teaching was the most frequently-cited reason for teaching followed by duty to the profession, and relationships. These motivators may also be influenced by the pool of physicians being those who were or had been affiliated with teaching. Financial incentives ranked last as a motivating factor (2.9%), differing from current literature. However, 32.3% of current preceptors said that financial compensation would motivate them to continue teaching, 33.3% of nonpreceptors noted the lack of financial compensation as a factor in their decision not to teach, and 26.9% listed it as a potential motivating factor to begin teaching. Our finding that time is the greatest barrier to preceptor recruitment and retention aligns with current research. Dedicated time for teaching was mentioned by 80% as a motivating factor to continue teaching, 50% as a reason they stopped teaching, and 69% as a potential motivating factor to begin teaching.”
Read more of this study from PRiMER.