Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) approach for medical education has been in use in Western countries for more than 30 years, but its use in Asian countries is quite recent. Because of cultural differences, the perception of a good tutor from the perspectives of students may be different.
Description: Students from a PBL curriculum medical school at Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taiwan, were asked to provide a narrative evaluation of tutor performance from tutorial learning. Twenty-nine tutors and their 49 undergraduate students participated in the study from September 2002 to June 2003.
Evaluation: Qualitative methods were used to identify and code the tutors' behaviors. Students preferred tutors who (a) had knowledge in both basic and clinical science areas, (b) had appropriate facilitative tutorial skills, and (c) had positive personality traits.
Conclusion: The results showed that students valued personality aspects of a tutor, an area that had been neglected in previous studies.