MedEdPORTAL (Jan 2014)
Resident-as-Teacher Workshop
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Residents educate daily, but feel unprepared to do so. Resident-as-teacher courses have been widely published about but can be challenging to implement due to lack of protected time for residents and limited funding to compensate faculty and provide resources. Many of the available resources online are courses that take place over several days or weeks. This resident-as-teacher workshop can be easily implemented using the instructor's guide and the attached resources, particularly by a faculty member with an engaging teaching style who is interested in medical education. It can be delivered in smaller portions or as one extended session, making it easy to deliver in a variety of settings, from noon conference to academic half-day. Methods This resource contains objectives for the workshop; teaching methods; workshop outline and agenda; efficacy data; reflections from our experience; evaluation forms; and guides for each component of the workshop, including cases, discussion questions, exercises, and informational handouts for learners. The workshop was purposefully designed to be nondidactic, with rich discussion and sharing of experiences. Faculty without formal training or experience in learning styles, feedback, and teaching styles may at first be intimidated by delivering this workshop, but the references included are carefully chosen to help prepare faculty for discussion. Residents teach and are taught so often that there should not be concern for a lack of content or experience to share. Additionally, residents with regular continuity or inpatient admitting experience will easily draw from these cases when role-playing and providing examples during discussion. Results After 1 year, we administered a postworkshop survey to assess retention of concepts. Seventy four percent of respondents stated that they were currently using a skill they gained at the workshop, while 70% responded that the workshop changed their approach to teaching and 67% responded that they workshop changed their approach to feedback. Discussion Based upon our experience, this resident-as-teacher workshop has improved house staff knowledge of the importance of their teaching role and increased their awareness of how to overcome barriers to teaching. The postworkshop evaluation suggests that the workshop provides residents with valuable strategies that they were able to continue using over a year later. In a time where the tension between service and education has never been higher, we need to empower our house staff to improve the educational experience for our students, residents, and patients.
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