Teaching residents to teach. An instructional program for training pediatric residents to precept third-year medical students in the ambulatory clinic
C. B. White, R. W. Bassali and L. B. Heery
Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To provide second- and third-year pediatric residents with
practical teaching skills for precepting third-year medical students in the
outpatient clinic. DESIGN: Educational intervention with 3-month follow-up
of participants. SETTING: University teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS:
Second- and third-year pediatric residents. INTERVENTION: A curriculum for
a half-day workshop to provide residents with 6 key clinical teaching
skills. Residents participated in the workshop and then were observed by
trained faculty as they precepted third-year medical students in the
pediatric clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Direct observation of
resident-student precepting encounters, noting the presence or absence of
their use of clinical teaching skills taught in the workshop. RESULTS:
Twenty-one of 23 pediatric residents participated in the workshop.
Observation of 56 resident teaching encounters before and after the
workshop showed that the residents improved their clinical teaching skills.
Residents valued the workshop, and many suggested it should also be
considered for faculty development. CONCLUSIONS: Residents can be taught
clinical teaching skills in a half-day workshop. These skills also are
applicable in various clinical venues. With the increasing interest in
using community-based primary care physicians for student and resident
education, this curriculum is well suited for training practicing
clinicians to teach in their own practice sites.
