Abstract

Doctors are teachers. They teach patients, nurses, parents, medical students, residents, and peers. Despite this fact, few have any formal education in teaching and even fewer receive feedback on their teaching skills. Our hypothesis was that instructional activities utilizing simulation could expose Pediatric Fellows to a teaching opportunity with immediate feedback while improving their knowledge and attitudes towards teaching skills. From July 2009 - June 2011, pediatric subspecialty fellows whose fellowships were more than one year in duration were included in this study. A pre-survey on teaching knowledge, skills and attitudes was completed by each Fellow prior to attending a teaching seminar on adult learning principles and active learning techniques. The Fellow then developed a case related to their subspecialty, which the simulation center transformed into a simulation scenario. After the learners experienced the case, the Fellow utilized active learning techniques to teach. This session was videotaped and immediate feedback was given to the Fellow concerning their teaching technique. Learners anonymously evaluated the Fellow concerning the effectiveness of their teaching using a structured evaluation tool. Statistical analysis of the surveys was done with a paired T-test, Analysis of Variance and appropriate agreement statistics utilizing SAS v9.2. There was a significant increase in the number of participants who recognized that demonstration is a more effective teaching strategy for retention of knowledge than discussion, didactic lecture, or lecture with audiovisual aids (p=.006). Most pediatric Fellows reported not having prior education on techniques of effective teaching despite a common requirement by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. Simulation offers a tool to simultaneously and directly observe Fellows teaching with structured, timely, and specific feedback. Simulation is also an ideal instructional strategy for Fellows to use when teaching residents and medical students about a subspecialty case that is important for a general pediatrician.