Background: Medical students report that approximately 1/3 of their medical education is provided by residents. As a moderate sized community-based hospital, we conducted a needs assessment about our residents’ attitudes and comfort with teaching medical students, which identified residents did not feel prepared to teach medical students nor feel confident in creating teaching talks, and most had never received formal training in teaching.
Methods: From this, we designed a 1-week online Resident as Teacher (RAT) Curriculum within Eplus (a learning and performance management system utilized by Legacy Health). The purpose of the curriculum was to develop resident teaching skills and effectively incorporate teaching into daily workflow. We hypothesized that RAT would increase resident confidence in both teaching medical students and in developing chalk talks by 20% using a 1 to 5 point likert scale. We developed two modules covering basic teaching principles and adult learning concepts, followed by modules reviewing common teaching scenarios on the wards: admitting a patient, physical exam, oral presentation, reviewing notes, professionalism, and group teaching. Each module was accompanied by questions to evaluate understanding and encourage skill practice with reflection. The curriculum culminated with each resident designing a 5-minute chalk talk for 3rd year medical students utilizing the principles learned during the course.
Results: he post-curriculum surveys (n=25) showed statistically significant improvements in resident confidence with their teaching skills and creating chalk talks. 100% of the residents that took this course would recommend it to other residents. One stated “it was a great resource and a great rotation, highly recommend.” Over 80% of our graduating residents these past two years have taken the elective. After collecting this feedback, many residents requested a second week of the Resident as Teacher Elective., thus we plan to create a second week of elective diving into translating cognitive learning theory into practice around topics like illness scripts, diagnostic schemas, and cognitive errors.
Conclusions: In conclusion, this novel online Resident as Teacher Curriculum provided residents with tools to improve their teaching skills.