GMS Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ausbildung (Jan 2005)
Effective didactic training for medical teachers
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop, test, evaluate and finally implement effective state-of-the-art Teacher Trainings in didactic skills and methods. The training concept should be designed and beneficial for medical teachers in under- and postgraduate Medical Education.Methods: A 5-day workshop with 12 theoretical and 9 „hands-on" modules has been designed and stepwise improved, according to trainees' feedback. All trainees were educated in small groups (6 to 10 participants per workshop). The workshops consisted of mini-lectures, repeated microteaching exercises and video-supported feedback concerning the following key-competencies: Communication of goals, methods to trigger interactivity, design of slides in ppt-presentations, effective feedback-techniques and use of media, time-management, skills teaching, assessment methods (e.g. OSCE and others), evaluation and general presentation skills. The evaluation was based on two components: A) Trainees' scores in two OSTEs (objecitve structured teaching exercises) at the beginning and end of workshop: the ratings of 15 to 20 external oberservers were checked for significant trends (X2 -Test Pearson) in 17 pregiven criteria for high teaching effectiveness. B) The trainees rated 20 teaching competencies in a retrospective „pre-post-analysis" (self-assessment questionaire) at the end of each workshop and after 6 to 12 months later. The results revealed highly significant improvements (p < 0.01) in 15 of 17 OSTE-criteria and in 19 of 20 items of the pre-post-analysis, predominantly estimated to be „persistent". Overall, trainees' feedback has been highly encouraging to continue and broaden the program. The discussion covers potential factors for the training success as well as pitfalls and controverse issues of time and costs.In conclusion, the designed 5-day training workshops to enhance didactic skills and teaching methods turned out to be highly effective and can be attended by all medical teachers with different teaching backgrounds and specialities (http://www.medidak-pilotprojekt.de/). The training has been CME-certified for 21 credits (category „C") by the Academy of the Physicians' State Association North-Rhine-Westfalia (LÄK Nordrhein).
