Strategies for Teaching Medical Students: A Faculty Development Workshop for Pediatric Preceptors in the Community Setting

Abstract

Introduction: An increasing number of medical students complete clerkships outside of traditional university-affiliated medical centers despite little faculty development geared specifically for the community preceptor. Moreover, the community setting presents a unique set of challenges, including fewer educational resources, greater expectation of clinical productivity, and a wide geographic distribution of preceptors. Methods: This 90-minute workshop provided pediatric community preceptors with effective teaching strategies that could be used in their setting. First, participants identified opportunities and challenges for medical student education in the community setting. Then, participants discussed approaches to strengthen the students' learning experience in small-group breakout sessions. Finally, workshop leaders emphasized specific teaching resources and methods to empower participants. Results: This workshop was presented at three national pediatric conferences and had at least 57 participants (40 total respondents). Over the three iterations, participants consistently rated this workshop as highly effective and engaging, with the small-group breakout session rated most engaging. Over time, modifications to the workshop included lengthening breakout sessions, shortening didactic materials to enhance audience discussion, and expanding content to include the outpatient setting. In later iterations, participants identified a specific medical education challenge at their institution and committed to using a technique they learned from the workshop. Discussion: This workshop targeted inpatient and outpatient pediatric preceptors to address the community-based faculty development gap. After completing the workshop, community preceptors can enhance the medical education experience by optimizing invaluable opportunities in the community setting and applying targeted strategies and resources.

Clinical Preceptor Development and the Benefit of Structured Teaching Techniques: A Scoping Review

“…33 The attendee evaluations after 3 sessions found the workshop effective. 33 Another workshop integrated Kolb's experiential learning theory with the OMP through a role-play training experience. 34 The experience aimed to have preceptors reflect on their previous precepting experiences, educate them on the teaching strategies of OMP, and actively engage them in learning structured techniques such as OMP that are proven to be efficient and effective.…”

“…32 Finally, in-person or virtual workshops are another platform to provide structured teaching strategies to preceptors. Farrell et al 33 outlined the results after a 90-minute preceptor workshop at a national conference for pediatric providers held in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The program aimed to provide support and educational tools for preceptors.…”

Faculty Development for Community Preceptors: a Narrative Review of the Literature

“…In most studies (67%, 14/21), a needs assessment guided the content and design of the FD program. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Teaching skills was the main area community preceptors requested to have additional training. Thus, FD program developers designed their programs around this need and included topics such as teaching techniques (e.g., one-minute-preceptor), 34 teaching in a longitudinal clerkship model, 28 promoting a positive learning climate, communicating goals, providing feedback, 30 and assessing clinical skills.…”

“…34 Only one study provided the number of participants as a proportion of their preceptor pool. 21 The majority of FD programs included only community preceptors (76%, 16/21); four programs included both academic and community-based preceptors; 26,30,33,35 and one study 32 included health professionals from medicine, nursing, social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology.…”

“…The duration of the FD programs ranged from one weekend to 3 years; in five studies, duration was not included. 29,32,34,36,37 In one study, the FD program was occurring annually as a 3day retreat, 20 and in another, 33 at an annual national conference as a workshop.…”