Twelve tips for teaching in the ICU

Abstract

The intensive care unit (ICU) provides unique educational opportunities for both undergraduate and postgraduate learners, including procedural training, ventilator management guidance, complex communication scenarios, and didactic lectures on dynamic topics like multi-system organ failure. However, certain challenges are inherent in this setting that can make teaching difficult. Different trainee educational backgrounds, variability in disease states, time limitations and urgent patient care considerations highlight some challenges that limit teaching opportunities. The following twelve tips address these unique aspects of the ICU environment and provide strategies to optimize teaching. These tips focus on three main goals: creating an optimal learning environment, increasing learner engagement, and critically challenging learners.

Intensive Care Residents’ Views Regarding Ethical Issues and Practices

“…The issue of scarcity of resources negatively affects ICU patient admission, morbidity, and mortality. Studies on this topic have emphasized the importance of the scarcity of resources and medical staff on ICU outcomes, revealing the disruptions caused to ICU services and the harm incurred by patients, especially during a pandemic [9,11]. Since inadequate resources and staff contributes to ICU employee dissatisfaction, burnout [10], and feelings of helplessness, these may lead to conflicts among those employees and between the latter and hospital management, thus affecting the quality of health services in the ICU.…”

A Scoping Review of Assessment Methods Following Undergraduate Clinical Placements in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine

“…The ICU and the anesthetic room can be challenging areas for student learning. Opportunities for history-taking and clinical examination are variable ( 1 , 5 ). Patients undergoing anesthesia require a focused history and examination tailored to the upcoming anesthetic and surgical procedure ( 5 ).…”

“…Opportunities for history-taking and clinical examination are variable ( 1 , 5 ). Patients undergoing anesthesia require a focused history and examination tailored to the upcoming anesthetic and surgical procedure ( 5 ). ICM patients are commonly sedated and/or confused, impeding history-taking.…”

“…Clinical examination in the intensive care unit (ICU) is more challenging in the context of an immobile, unresponsive patient on extracorporeal devices (dialysis, mechanical ventilation). Furthermore, in both disciplines, procedural learning is often limited by the complex, high-stakes, time-sensitive aspects of common tasks ( 1 , 5 ).…”

“…Furthermore, valid and reliable tools are central to assessment decisions regarding high stakes competencies such as effective acute and perioperative patient care. Despite this, three recent papers on curriculum and effective teaching in the ICU and anesthetic room make no recommendations about student assessment ( 2 , 3 , 5 ). The first objective of our review therefore was to evaluate the nature and robustness of published assessment strategies in these high-stakes clinical specialties, incorporating an analysis of the theoretical bases for these publications.…”