Curated Collections for Clinician Educators: Five Key Papers on Graduated Responsibility in Residency Education

Curated collections for educators: Six key papers on teaching procedural skills

BACKGROUND

Competence in teaching procedural skills is required for faculty in all specialties. Regardless of involvement in undergraduate medical education (UME) versus graduate medical education (GME), faculty will likely be involved in teaching procedures to novice learners at some point, with the goal of having the learner achieve graduated independence and technical competence in a skill set. A large body of literature exists addressing the best practices for teaching and maintaining procedural skills. We searched for articles that describe the best practices for teaching procedural skills to all levels of learners.

METHODS

We conducted a literature search for papers on procedural skills training and teaching. We also made a call for papers on social media from members of the online #MedEd and #FOAMed communities. Once a list of the articles was compiled, we conducted a three-round modified Delphi process to identify those illustrating best practices for teaching procedural skills by both junior and senior faculty.

RESULTS

We identified 98 relevant articles on the topic of procedural skills training. Six articles were deemed to be highly relevant after three rounds of the modified Delphi. Best practices included using an established educational framework when designing procedural skills teaching sessions, providing positive feedback to learners with opportunities for improvement, and demonstrating the procedure to the learners.

CONCLUSIONS

Medical educators should employ evidence-based practices when designing and delivering procedural skills sessions. Educational frameworks provide faculty developers and facilitators with an organized approach to teaching these sessions. Maintenance of procedural skills over time is key; faculty can utilize simulation-based procedural training and deliberate practice to prevent decay of learned skills.

Curated collection for clinician educators: Six key papers on residency recruitment

INTRODUCTION

All emergency medicine (EM) residency programs must recruit new medical school graduates each year. The process is often overwhelming, with each program receiving far more applicants than available positions. We searched for evidence-based best practices to guide residency programs in screening, interviewing, and ranking applicants to ensure a high-performing and diverse residency class.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted on the topic of residency recruitment, utilizing a call on social media as well as multiple databases. After identifying relevant articles, we performed a modified Delphi process in three rounds, utilizing junior educators as well as more senior faculty.

RESULTS

We identified 51 relevant articles on the topic of residency recruitment. The Delphi process yielded six articles that were deemed most highly relevant over the three rounds. Transparency with selection criteria, holistic application review, standardized letters of evaluation, and blinding applicant files for interviewers were among noted best practices.

CONCLUSIONS

Well-supported evidence-based practices exist for residency recruitment, and programs may benefit from understanding which common recruitment practices offer the most value. The articles discussed here provide a foundation for faculty looking to improve their program's recruiting practices.