What Makes a Great Resident Teacher? A Multicenter Survey of Medical Students Attending an Internal Medicine Conference

Prior Teaching Experience and Barriers to Effective Resident Teaching: A Cross-Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION

Resident physicians play an important role in teaching the next generation of health-care providers, yet limited research has explored factors influencing effective teaching, such as preresidency experiences or barriers within residency. This study examines residents' prior teaching experience, its correlation with teaching attitudes, and identifies potential barriers to sustained teaching engagement.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study surveyed residents across multiple specialties at a single academic center. The survey assessed preresidency teaching experience, perceived barriers, and attitudes toward teaching. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified differences in teaching attitudes based on prior teaching experience and gender.

RESULTS

Ninety-two residents across 11 specialties participated (52.2% female). Internal Medicine (28.3%) and General Surgery (26.1%) had the highest representation. Two-thirds of respondents (69.6%) had formal teaching experience before residency. After adjustment, prior teaching experience and male gender were associated with feeling prepared to teach medical students (P = 0.014 and P = 0.001). Male gender was also linked to confidence in teaching material on the wards (P = 0.015). Barriers identified included time constraints (73.9%), lack of content clarity (28.3%), and uncertainty about teaching methods (33.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

Residents with prior teaching experience exhibit higher levels of preparedness, content clarity, and confidence in their teaching abilities, underscoring the importance of teaching experience before residency. This study also identified significant barriers to effective teaching, including time constraints, lack of content clarity, uncertainty about teaching methods, and perceived disinterest from medical students. Addressing these barriers is essential for optimizing medical student education.

Education Research: What Medical Students Value in Neurology Residents: A Qualitative Study to Inform Resident as Teacher Curricula

Background and Objectives

Residents are responsible for much of the formal and informal teaching of neurology clerkship medical students. High-quality resident teachers can enhance clerkship satisfaction, decrease neurophobia, and increase specialty interest. To train such residents, some institutions have developed resident as teacher (RAT) curricula. Existing RAT curricula are highly variable, partly because of our limited understanding of medical student attitudes and expectations regarding the qualities and skills of effective resident teachers. We sought to identify important themes in resident teaching, based on qualitative analysis of written evaluations by students, to better inform future RAT curricula in neurology.

Methods

Clerkship student evaluations of residents from 2012 to 2023 at a single institution were collected and anonymized. The narrative comments were thematically coded using conventional content analysis in an iterative process of reconciliation and recoding. Randomly selected evaluations were analyzed in batches of 50 at a time until thematic saturation was achieved.

Results

A total of 200 evaluations yielded 6 themes with 27 subthemes: (1) Work-based learning, teaching and assessment: "sets expectations," "student involvement in care," "student autonomy over care," "helps students prepare/practice," "gives feedback," "mentorship and coaching," and "challenges students"; (2) Attitudes as teacher: "likes to teach," "made time to teach," "inspirational/fun," "patience," "approachability," and "learner-centric"; (3) Learning environment: "safety" and "clear communication"; (4) Role modeling: "knowledge," "skills," "attitudes," and "leadership"; (5) Content of teaching: "clinical skills," "medical knowledge," "nonmedical topics," and "directed to further learning"; and (6) Context of teaching: "bedside/in exam room," "attending rounds," "in workflow," and "break for teaching." The most prevalent subthemes were "student involvement in care," "gives feedback," "safety," "made time to teach," and "approachability."

Discussion

In their written evaluations of neurology residents, medical students identified many attributes, skills, and methods that led to a positive learning experience. Many of these themes highlighted the importance of residents facilitating work-based learning, cultivating the learning environment, and serving as role models rather than formal teaching activities alone. We provide recommendations for further RAT curricular development informed by these results. Using these findings, we further illustrate how residents influence the tripartite interaction between the learner, their subject, and their environment seen in existing learning theories.

Identifying teaching competencies for medical residents using a modified Delphi method

PURPOSE

This study aimed to identify the teaching competencies of medical residents.

METHODS

A modified Delphi study was conducted from January to March 2017. Twenty-four panelists (six medical educators, program directors, chief residents, and residents each) from various facilities in Japan participated in the study. The consensus criterion for this study was that more than 80% of the panelists gave a rating of 6 or higher on the 7-point Likert scale ("not at all important" to "extremely important") without any comments. The modified Delphi approach resulted in a list of 27 resident teaching competencies after three rounds. These competencies were categorized based on Harden and Crosby's 12 roles of medical teachers.

RESULTS

Our study revealed that, of the 12 roles, residents were primarily viewed as "clinical or practical teachers," "teaching role models," "on-the-job role models," "learning facilitators," and "student assessors."

CONCLUSION

The 27 resident teaching competencies indicate the importance of educational proximity for residents as teachers. It is expected that this finding will contribute to competency-based resident-as-teacher education.

Beyond Residents-as-Teachers: The Development of an Advanced Medical Education Pilot Elective for Pediatric Residents

Introduction An advanced medical education elective can encompass themes that transcend traditional residents-as-teachers curricula. The literature is scarce regarding the development of such a curriculum for pediatric residents. Objectives To develop and implement an advanced medical education elective for pediatric residents and evaluate the effectiveness of the educational strategies and curriculum. Methods Kern's Six Steps were applied to create a two-week-long elective for pediatric residents. Residents worked through Kern's model to collaboratively develop the elective. Faculty were recruited based on expertise and content previously created. Residents developed teaching sessions for fourth-year medical students and received feedback. The curriculum was evaluated using quantitative and qualitative feedback with a five-point Likert scale and open-ended questions, group discussions, elective evaluations, and the New World Kirkpatrick Model. Results Five residents, 17 students, and 22 faculty participated. Lectures, expert panels, group discussions, and teaching sessions were seen as effective instructional methods. All residents were satisfied with the elective and its strategies and developed useful skills. Resident-led teaching sessions and interactive learning strategies were cited as a strength, while some redundancy was noted as a weakness. Faculty recommended more formal feedback on resident-led teaching sessions in the future. Conclusions Our medical education elective was designed collaboratively with residents on a medical education track. Strong faculty participation, asynchronous learning, and resident-led teaching sessions were strengths of the curriculum. The curriculum's reproducible components may serve as a foundation for institutions interested in improving their medical education didactics for residents. More research is needed to determine the external validity of this novel curriculum.

The Kids Are Alright: a New Generation of Educators

Generational theory states that as a result of experiencing the same life-altering, world-wide events at key developmental ages, individuals of a given generation share unique perspectives, values, and traits compared to other generations as reported by Johnson and Romanello (Nurse Educ. 30(5):212-216, 2005) and Howe and Strauss 2000. Thus, while individual variation still exists, generational theory can be used as a tool to predict individual behavior and capitalize on shared traits in the workplace or educational setting. The millennial generation, born between 1981 and 1996, has previously been negatively perceived; however, application of generational theory can allow for a reshaping of public perception. For example, there now exists ample research, both within and outside of medical education, on how to take advantage of typical traits of the millennial student to maximize their learning, such as Twenge (Med Educ. 43(5):398-405, 2009), Eckleberry-Hunt and Tucciarone (J Grad Med Educ. 3(4):458-461, 2011), and Nicholas (Int J Learn Annu Rev. 15(6):27-34, 2008). As the cohort ages, the focus has shifted to helping millennials reach their full potential as employees. However, due to intensive and lengthy training required, medicine is only now seeing the first cohort of millennials entering the workforce as faculty physicians. As such, academic medicine is seeing millennials move from the learner role into that of the teacher. Thus far, the influence of the shared generational characteristics on their success and challenges as clinician educators and educational leaders is novel and has not been explored in the literature. By overlaying generational theory on Srinivasan et al.'s (Acad Med. 86(10):1211-1220, 2011) proposed six competencies for medical educators, we predict the strengths and challenges of millennial medical educators and hypothesize on the impact this generation may have on academic medicine.

The Impact of Delivering School-Based Wellness Programs for Emerging Adult Facilitators-A Quasi-Controlled Clinical Trial

A quasi-controlled clinical trial included a university-based supervision course for facilitators of an interactive wellness school-based program. The study aimed to investigate how students that facilitate prevention programs are personally affected by delivering content related to self-esteem, body-image, and media literacy. In total, 66 university students who were either facilitators of preventive programs (intervention group) or non-facilitators (comparison group) completed questionnaires before, after, and three months following the program’s termination. All methods were performed following the Declaration of Helsinki regulations and Consort 2010 guidelines. Participants in the facilitator group demonstrated statistically significant superiority, with large effect size, regarding improvement in identifying advertisement strategies. Weight-related body-esteem, and the reduced impact of media messages’ pressure also had statistically significant superiority, with small effect size. The number of participants with pathological EAT-26 scores (>20) decreased from 5 to 2 in the facilitator group compared to an increase from 5 to 6 (no statistical significance) in the comparison group. Both groups demonstrated statistically significant decreases in eating disorder perceptions and behaviors from baseline to 3-month follow-up. Delivering a prevention program proved beneficial to facilitators, in addition to the target school pupils, and thus may be considered as part of the prevention programs’ effectiveness assessment.

Teaching scripts via smartphone app facilitate resident-led teaching of medical students

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have suggested that resident physicians are the most meaningful teachers during the clinical clerkships of third-year medical students (MS3s). Unfortunately, residents often feel unprepared for this crucial role. The pediatrics clerkship at our institution identified a paucity in the frequency of resident-led teaching with MS3s. Lack of confidence, suboptimal teaching space, and insufficient time were cited as the most significant barriers. To enhance resident-led teaching of MS3s, we created teaching scripts of general pediatrics topics accessible via a smartphone application (app).

METHODS

Prior to the implementation of the app, MS3s and pediatric residents were surveyed on clerkship teaching practices. From May 2017 through July 2018, pediatric residents working with MS3s were introduced to the app, with both groups queried on resident teaching habits afterward. We compared pre-intervention and post-intervention data of time spent teaching, teaching frequency, and a ranking of pediatric resident teaching performance compared to residents of other MS3 core clerkships.

RESULTS

44 out of 90 residents (49%) responded to a pre-intervention survey on baseline teaching habits. 49 out of 61 residents (80%) completed our post-intervention survey. Pre-intervention, 75% (33/44) of residents reported spending less than 5 min per teaching session on average. Post-intervention, 67% (33/49) reported spending more than 5 min (p < 0.01). 25% (11/44) of residents reported teaching at least once per day pre-intervention, versus 55% (27/49, p = 0.12) post-intervention. Post-intervention data demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between app use and increased frequency of teaching (p < 0.01). The MS3 average ranking of pediatric resident teaching increased from 2.4 to 3.4 out of 6 (p < 0.05) after this intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Residency programs looking to reform resident-led teaching, particularly of residents early in their training, should consider our novel approach. In addition to addressing barriers to teaching and creating a platform for near-peer teaching, it is adaptable to any specialty or learner level. Future direction includes developing objective measures for teaching performance and content proficiency to better assess our intervention as an educational curriculum, as well as further investigation of the intervention as a controlled trial.

A Conceptual Model for Residents as Teachers in Obstetrics and Gynecology

BACKGROUND

The learning environment in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) may have intrinsic differences that require modifying existing resident as teacher models for high-quality teaching.

OBJECTIVE

To explore medical students' views of resident teaching on the OB/GYN clerkship in order to develop more effective educators.

METHODS

Between October 2017 and June 2018, we performed medical student focus groups at the end of the 2-month OB/GYN clerkship. Topics discussed included positive and negative teaching interactions with residents, barriers specific to the OB/GYN clerkship, and best methods for resident teaching. Qualitative analysis utilizing 3 reviewers and N-Vivo software were used to identify themes.

RESULTS

A total of 37 students participated in five focus groups. The most common barriers were a learning environment that was less predictable than on other rotations and lack of autonomy due to patient advocacy concerns. The three main contributors to positive learning experiences were team inclusion, clear expectations, and feedback. Negative interactions were passive learning experiences and inconsistent expectations. The best methods for resident teaching were verbalization of cognitive processes, preparation to use common patient encounters as teaching moments, and modeling skills needed for proficient patient care.

DISCUSSION

The learning environment on OB/GYN is unpredictable and influenced by four Ps: patient autonomy, passive experiences, procedures, and preconceived notions. The strategy of a resident teacher should focus on medical student inclusion and preparation for teaching role. We thus suggest a TEAM (Thinking Aloud, Expectations, Advanced Preparation, Modeling) approach to improve resident teaching on the OB/GYN clerkship.

Empowering future physicians to advocate for health equity: A blueprint for a longitudinal thread in undergraduate medical education

In light of a growing body of evidence demonstrating pervasive health disparities, medical schools are increasingly incorporating educational programs on social medicine in undergraduate and graduate medical curricula. In 2015, we significantly restructured the cultural competency instruction for medical students at our institution, focusing on achieving greater health equity through caring for vulnerable populations and acknowledging and addressing bias and stereotyping. In order to facilitate educational sustainability while students were immersed in clinical care, a key element of our approach included extending teaching into the clerkship year. The resulting longitudinal thread, Health Equity and Social Justice, empowers future physicians with the knowledge and skills to work towards greater health equity. This article discusses the lessons learned in the implementation of this novel educational program. Our approach can serve as a model for other institutions considering similar instructional reform.

Performance of Pediatrics' residents as clinical teachers: A student-based assessment

Objective

To assess the clinical teaching skills of Pediatrics' residents as rated by final year MBBS students by using augmented Stanford Faculty Development Program questionnaire (SFDPQ) in a teaching hospital, Lahore.

Methods

This cross- sectional survey was conducted in the Department of Pediatrics, King Edward Medical University, Lahore in six months in 2016.Total of 265 students of final year MBBS, attending the teaching sessions organized by residents during their four weeks rotation in Pediatrics were included by non-probability purposive sampling. The augmented SFDPQ was emailed to the study participants after the completion of the clinical rotation, following several encounters with the resident. The data was entered in SPSS 22 for statistical analysis. Scores for each domain (learning climate, control of session, communication of goals, promoting understanding and retention, evaluation, promoting self-directed learning, teacher's knowledge and teacher's attitude) were also presented as mean and standard deviation. One-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to observe the normality of data. Where normality of data was observed, independent sample t-test was applied and where normality of data was not observed, Mann-Whitney U test was applied to compare the score between genders. Score of four was considered as cut off score for satisfactory results.

Results

Out of 265 students, 250 responded with response rate of 94.3%. Out of 250 medical students, 105 (42.0%) were male and 145(58.0%) were female. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of this score was excellent (0.973). The mean score for all SFDPQ domains was also sub-optimal (2.90±0.611). The mean total score was sub-optimal for learning climate (3.39±0.69), control of session (3.25±0.77), communication of goals (3.26±0.86), promoting understanding and retention (3.26±0.77), evaluation (2.25±0.67), promoting self-directed learning (3.17±0.90), teacher's knowledge (3.14±0.93) and teacher's attitude (3.31±0.89), while it was good only for feedback (4.03±0.11). The mean total score for all SFDPQ domains in males and females was 3.05±0.54 and 2.79±0.64 respectively. Although sub-optimal in both the genders, the score was significantly higher in males with p-value 0.001.

Conclusion

We found suboptimal clinical teaching skills of Pediatrics' residents as rated by final year MBBS medical students.

Unearthing Faculty and Trainee Perspectives of Feedback in Internal Medicine: the Oral Case Presentation as a Model

BACKGROUND

The case presentation is a fundamental activity used in both patient care and trainee education, partly due to feedback from supervisor to trainee. Although feedback in medical education is well studied, prior studies have not focused on the perceptions of feedback by Internal Medicine supervisors and trainees as it relates to clinical activities like the case presentation.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight Internal Medicine physicians, and 18 Internal Medicine trainees (5 medical students, 13 residents) at the University of Toronto. Purposive sampling was used. Interviews were conducted and coded iteratively within a constructivist grounded theory approach until saturation was reached.

RESULTS

Supervisors and trainees recognized feedback as an important part of the case presentation that can be (1) explicit, labeled feedback or (2) implicit, unlabeled feedback. Both trainees and supervisors perceived that not enough feedback occurs, likely stemming from a hesitancy by supervisors to label implicit feedback, calling it an interruption instead. Although trainees were keenly aware of non-verbal feedback from their supervisors as implicit feedback, they often interpreted explicit constructive feedback negatively. Interestingly, the same feedback from senior residents was regarded as highly educational, as it was uncoupled from assessment.

CONCLUSION

Feedback occurs more frequently in case presentations than previously described, particularly in an implicit, unlabeled format. Even though under-recognized, trainees identify and utilize implicit feedback from supervisors, and coaching from senior residents, to develop learned behaviors. This is reassuring in the age of Competency-Based Medical Education, as feedback has an essential role in workplace-based assessment and promotion.

Peer-assisted learning versus didactic teaching in osteology for first-year Indian undergraduate medical students: a quasi-experimental study

PURPOSE

The utility of peer-assisted learning (PAL) in anatomy education has been recognized. In this study, PAL was incorporated into osteology teaching for the first-year medical students and compared to traditional didactic methods (TDM).

METHODS

This was a cross-over intervention study. The class of 60 students was divided into two equal groups. The first group underwent PAL for five upper limb osteology sessions and TDM for all lower limb osteology classes. The second group underwent TDM for five upper limb osteology classes and PAL for lower limb osteology classes. A pre-session test (PrST) and post-session test (PoST) were conducted for each session using multiple choice type questions. Perceptions of students about PAL were collected using a questionnaire. Between and within group differences were estimated using the independent sample T test and paired T test, respectively. The responses in the questionnaire were summarized and open-ended responses categorized into broad themes.

RESULTS

Greater group differences were noted in the PrST as compared to the PoST mean scores, with the PAL group showing higher mean scores for both upper and lower limb sessions. Significantly higher PoST scores compared to PrST scores for all the sessions were observed regardless of the method used. Significantly higher scores in the PrST or PoST scores were noted in the PAL group for five sessions. Most aspects of PAL were appreciated by the students.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence that PAL is at least as effective as TDM in learning osteology among the first-year medical students.

Factors that Contribute to Resident Teaching Effectiveness

Background

One of the key components of residency training is to become an educator. Resident physicians teach students, advanced practice providers, nurses, and even faculty on a daily basis.

Objective

The goal of this study was to identify the objective characteristics of residents, which correlate with perceived overall teaching effectiveness.

Methods

We conducted a one-year, retrospective study to identify factors that were associated with higher resident teaching evaluations. Senior emergency medicine (EM) teaching residents are evaluated by medical students following clinical teaching shifts. Eighteen factors pertaining to resident teaching effectiveness were chosen. Two items from the medical students' evaluations were analyzed against each factor: teaching effectiveness was measured on a five-point Likert scale and an overall teaching score (1-75).

Results

A total of 46 EM residents and 843 medical student evaluations were analyzed. The ACGME milestones for systems-based practice (p = 0.02) and accountability (p = 0.05) showed a statistically significant association with a rating of “five” on the Likert scale for teaching effectiveness. Three other ACGME milestones, systems-based practice (p = 0.01), task switching (p = 0.04), and team management (p = 0.03) also showed a statically significant association of receiving a score of 70 or greater on the overall teaching score.

Conclusion

Residents with higher performance associated with system management and accountability were perceived as highly effective teachers. USMLE and in-service exams were not predictive of higher teaching evaluations. Our data also suggest that effective teachers are working in both academic and community settings, providing a potential resource to academic departments and institutions.

What Learning Resource Persons do Clinical Medical Students Prefer?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Introduction Nowadays, clinical medical students need to find suitable learning resource persons to cope with knowledge and develop their skills. Resource persons include faculties, residents, peers or each individual medical students' self-study. The aim of this study was to compare the differences perspectives and give feedback to stakeholders for learning achievements. Methods 142 medical students answer 5-rating scale questionnaire including 6 aspects; knowledge acquired, accuracy of information, clinical skills, active learning stimulation, comfortable learning environment and time consuming which each had 4 question. Statistical analysis was compared outcomes between groups of resource person by using one-way ANOVA and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results Simulation of active learning was greatly impacted by faculties (component matrix 0.793) with self-study in the second place (component matrix 0.781). Peers got least impact in acquiring knowledge (component matrix 0.707) but was greatly impacted on clinical skill (component matrix 0.717). Self-study had least impact on clinical skill (component matrix 0.521). Learning with residents and self-study had greatest impact on comfortable learning environment (component matrix 0.813, 0.809 respectively). Peers had highest impact as the learning resource who consumed least time in learning (component matrix 0.858) and accuracy of information (component matrix 0.784). Faculties had lowest impact on accuracy of information (component matrix 0.506). There were significant different average student perspective scores from multiple resources learning (p-value 0.01). In general, students mostly favored learning with residents while faculties got second place; however, there was insignificant differences between peers and self-study. Conclusion Residents were the most favored learning resource because they had more experiences and knowledge than peers and had small age gap with students, thus students felt more comfortable to discuss. In addition, faculties, peers and self-study were important as they could still stimulate medical students to develop other important skills (communication skill, clinical skill and stress management).

5 Tips for Residents New to Teaching Medical Students

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Graduating from medical school is a time of transition that is filled with many responsibilities and opportunities. In a few short years, new physicians are expected to learn their trade and teach what they have learned to students along the way before being allowed to practice independently. As a medical student, trainees have the opportunity to learn from multiple providers from a range of specialties at all levels of training. Physicians in graduate medication education programs (i.e., residents) have a unique opportunity to provide training and teaching to medical students with a perspective that comes from being between the student and the expert attending physician. Whether students work with a resident during one day or over the course of several weeks, this time can be especially helpful in growing the student's knowledge base while honing the resident's teaching skills. The purpose of this article is to provide tips for resident physicians to use as they begin their role as teachers of medical students while balancing their responsibilities as trainees themselves. Many residency programs are developing formal resident as teacher programs to help facilitate their residents in becoming better teachers. These tips may be applied in such programs.

JGME-ALiEM Hot Topics in Medical Education Online Journal Club: An Analysis of a Virtual Discussion About Resident Teachers

BACKGROUND

In health professionals' education, senior learners play a key role in the teaching of junior colleagues.

OBJECTIVE

We describe an online discussion about residents as teachers to highlight the topic and the online journal club medium.

METHODS

In January 2015, the Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME) and the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine blog facilitated an open-access, online, weeklong journal club on the JGME article "What Makes a Great Resident Teacher? A Multicenter Survey of Medical Students Attending an Internal Medicine Conference." Social media platforms used to promote asynchronous discussions included a blog, a video discussion via Google Hangouts on Air, and Twitter. We performed a thematic analysis of the discussion. Web analytics were captured as a measure of impact.

RESULTS

The blog post garnered 1324 page views from 372 cities in 42 countries. Twitter was used to endorse discussion points, while blog comments provided opinions or responded to an issue. The discussion focused on why resident feedback was devalued by medical students. Proposed explanations included feedback not being labeled as such, the process of giving delivery, the source of feedback, discrepancies with self-assessment, and threats to medical student self-image. The blog post resulted in a crowd-sourced repository of resident teacher resources.

CONCLUSIONS

An online journal club provides a novel discussion forum across multiple social media platforms to engage authors, content experts, and the education community. Crowd-sourced analysis of the resident teacher role suggests that resident feedback to medical students is important, and barriers to student acceptance of feedback can be overcome.