ABSTRACT: A “Resident-as-Teacher” Curriculum Using a Flipped Classroom Approach: Can a Model Designed for Efficiency Also Be Effective?
PROBLEM:
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires training that enhances resident teaching skills. Despite this requirement, many residency training programs struggle to implement effective resident-as-teacher (RAT) curricula, particularly within the context of the 80-hour resident workweek.
APPROACH:
In 2013, the authors developed and evaluated an intensive one-day RAT curriculum using a flipped classroom approach. Twenty-nine second-year residents participated in daylong RAT sessions. The curriculum included four 1-hour workshops focusing on adult learning principles, giving feedback, teaching a skill, and orienting a learner. Each workshop, preceded by independent reading, featured peer co-teaching, application, and feedback. The authors evaluated the curriculum using pre- and postworkshop objective structured teaching examinations (OSTEs) and attitudinal and self-efficacy teaching questionnaires.
OUTCOMES:
Residents demonstrated statistically significant improvements in performance between pre- and postworkshop OSTEs on each of three core skills: giving feedback (P = .005), orienting a learner (P < .001), and teaching a skill (P < .001). Residents expressed positive attitudes surrounding teaching on the retrospective pre-post attitudinal instrument (P < .001) and rated themselves as more effective teachers (P < .001) after the training.
NEXT STEPS:
The authors have demonstrated that the flipped classroom approach is an efficient and effective method for training residents to improve teaching skills, especially in an era of work hour restrictions. They have committed to the continuation of this curriculum and are planning to include assessment of its long-term effects on resident behavior change and educational outcomes.
Written by Brian S McGowan, PhD
Dr. McGowan has served in leadership positions in numerous medical educational organizations and commercial supporters and is a Fellow of the Alliance (FACEhp). He founded the Outcomes Standardization Project, launched and hosted the Alliance Podcast, and most recently launched and hosts the JCEHP Emerging Best Practices in CPD podcast. In 2012 he Co-Founded ArcheMedX, Inc, a healthcare informatics and e-learning company to apply his research in practice.
