Developing residents as teachers : Process and content

These data characterize and illuminate an analysis of experiences about teaching during each year of a pediatric residency training program in a tertiary care center. The curriculum sought to introduce many concepts about teaching, and residents reported that they: 1. Used concepts introduced about feedback; 2. Began to appreciate that teaching is more than imparting knowledge; 3. Began to identify teaching opportunities in the context of patient care; and 4. Incorporated the practice of establishing goals and expectations for learning with their learners. These data suggest that as interns are exposed to concepts about teaching, they are able to identify what they can offer students, irrespective of the amount of knowledge and clinical experience they have about pediatric medicine. Helping interns appreciate that teaching stems from one's experiences and is much more than just "telling what one knows" was an explicit goal of the Teaching Program's curriculum design group. Another conclusion is that PGY-2 residents are aware that patient care responsibilities pose challenges to teaching. PGY-2 residents at CHB are transitioning from a relatively intense teaching experience as PGY-1 interns to becoming team leaders as PGY-3 residents. Thus, the issues about teaching in the PGY-2 year seem less defined. Helping PGY-2 residents better integrate teaching with patient care continues to be a challenge. Although the focus of the PGY-2 curriculum in the Teaching Program focused on developing skills to become teachers during the final year of residency, what emerged from PGY-2 residents were their concerns and insights about teaching better in situations in which patient care responsibilities were the priority. In addition to using concepts introduced in the sessions, residents in all three training years unanimously reported one impact of the Teaching Program: it made them more "aware" of the importance of teaching and of developing teaching skills. They also began to realize that they require feedback about their teaching from peers, attending physicians, and learner sources. By experiencing the Teaching Program, residents identified other useful approaches and resources to learning about teaching, mainly by observing their peers. Additionally, many residents were beginning to develop individualized approaches toward teaching based on their experiences in the clinical setting and their development as clinicians—the examples shared by interns about how they actual