Faculty perceptions and practice impact of a faculty development workshop on emergency medicine teaching

Abstract

Background: Faculty development initiatives to improve emergency department (ED) teaching are compromised by the paucity of information about what behaviours and characteristics are desirable in an emergency medicine (EM) teacher. Objectives: To design and evaluate a learner-centred, interactive faculty development workshop based on original ED teaching research. Methods: Registrants for a university-based faculty development workshop on ED teaching completed a needs assessment and pre-workshop self-reflection exercise. Responses were grouped into 3 themes derived from the ambulatory teaching literature and a recent survey of expert clinical EM teachers and learners. Participants underwent a half-day workshop consisting of 1 large group interactive session and 3 small group sessions using role playing, practice reflection, real time review of hard copy resources, and brainstorming. Evaluation included a post-event ordinal scale questionnaire and a 4-month follow-up short answer survey, both measuring participants' perceptions of workshop effectiveness. Results: Fifteen faculty participated. The needs assessment identified "Common mistakes," "Teaching efficiently" and "Dealing with the difficult learner" as themes. All 15 completed evaluations, rating the workshop as relevant (4.6/5), specific to their needs (4.4/5) and useful (4.5/5). At 4 months, 10 out of 10 respondents reported success at implementing new techniques and 8 reported greater confidence in teaching. The most common new techniques were: setting better learning objectives, giving better feedback, actively seeking teaching opportunities, and identifying a teaching point. Conclusions: Learner-centred faculty development meets perceived needs of faculty and can result in participants trying new teaching strategies.

Education scholarship in emergency medicine part 2: supporting and developing scholars

“…5,33 Particular to EM, brief programs targeting specific skills have shown changes in behaviour and increased scholarly output. [34][35][36] In one study, the specific skills identified were research methods, mentorship and career counselling, leadership skills, scholarly writing, knowledge of the faculty development process, and physician wellness. 37 Although the number of publications in medical education research continues to increase, there are still significant barriers and limitations that affect both the output and the quality of these studies.…”

Developing and Assessing Initiatives Designed to Improve Clinical Teaching Performance

“…13,14 The studies are limited, reporting outcomes based solely on positive reaction, learning, and behavior…”

Teaching the RAPID approach at the start of emergency medicine clerkship: an evaluation

“…3 The emergency department (ED) is similar to the clinic-based environment in that teaching time is limited and the learner has the larger educational time commitment. [4][5][6] In addition to this, patients in the ED do not present at fixed intervals, occasionally require resuscitation, are often in pain, have a high incidence of nonmedical needs in addition to medical needs, and require more effective discharge instructions or arrangement of follow-up care because this is often the only encounter that the physician will have with that patient. There is evidence that practicing physicians and nurses fail to consistently manage these challenges.…”