Understanding Resident Learning Preferences Within an Internal Medicine Noon Conference Lecture Series: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background The lecture remains the most common approach for didactic offerings in residency programs despite conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of this format. Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of internal medicine residents toward conferences held in the lecture format. Methods The investigators invited internal medicine residents (N = 144) to participate in focus groups discussing their perspectives about noon conference lectures. The investigators used a semistructured guide to ask about motivations for attendance and effectiveness of noon conferences, transcribed the recordings, coded the discussions, and analyzed the results. Results Seven focus groups with a total of 41 residents were held. This identified 4 major domains: (1) motivations for attendance; (2) appropriate content; (3) effective teaching methods; and (4) perspectives on active participation. Residents' motivations were categorized into external factors, including desire for a break and balance to their workload, and intrinsic attributes, including the learning opportunity, topic, and speaker. Appropriate content was described as clinically relevant, practical, and presenting a balance of evidence. Identified effective teaching methods included shorter teaching sessions focused on high-yield learning points structured around cases and questions. While active participation increases residents' perceived level of stress, the benefits of this format include increased attention and learning. Conclusions This study furthers our knowledge of the learning preferences of internal medicine residents within the changing environment of residency education and can be used in conjunction with principles of adult learning to reform how we deliver core medical knowledge.

An active learning curriculum improves fellows’ knowledge and faculty teaching skills

“…Active participation in educational sessions has been reported by residents to increase attention and engagement learning 17. The format of active learning sessions is important.…”

Does Faculty Follow the Recommended Structure for a New Classroom-based, Daily Formal Teaching Session for Anesthesia Residents?

“…Furthermore, the adherence to the template might have been adversely affected by the lack of formally required instructions about being compliant with the template. It is well-known that residents also appreciate a safe learning environment, which we were not able to specifically quantify [16]. This study also did not test how the sessions affected learning retention, such as with a before-and-after written test, or a change in resident anesthesia clinical practice.…”

Learning strategies among adult CHD fellows

“…13 Several studies suggested that case-based training is highly effective when fellows are actively engaged. 6,14 For example, case-based training was effective in teaching arrhythmia management during residency. 15 However, the risk with relying exclusively on a case-based approach is that some topics may be neglected when the case load is unbalanced.…”

“…[3][4][5] Training is likely to be most effective if the programme both adheres to the fellows' preferences and utilises evidence-based teaching strategies. 6 Adult CHD is a nascent subspecialty which is rapidly expanding in response to increasing numbers of adults living with moderate or complex CHD, typically after having undergone paediatric surgical interventions. [7][8][9] Specialised adult CHD clinical programmes have been developed across the globe, and many now also offer dedicated adult CHD subspecialty fellowships.…”