Improving residents' teaching skills and attitudes toward teaching.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a short, 3-hour teaching skills workshop could improve residents' teaching performances and attitudes toward teaching.


METHODS
Controlled study.


METHODS
Forty-four second- and third-year residents in a university-based internal medicine residency program.


METHODS
Twenty-two residents were assigned to a nonparticipant (control) group, and 22 residents were assigned to a 3-hour teaching skills workshop designed to help them establish a positive learning climate and provide effective feedback to medical students.


METHODS
Questionnaires completed by medical students and residents that measured the residents' abilities to establish a positive learning climate and provide feedback, their overall teaching skills, and their attitudes toward teaching.


RESULTS
Four months after the workshop intervention, workshop participants improved their learning climate and feedback according to student evaluations (p = .02, p = .001, respectively) and resident self-assessments (p = .002, p = .01, respectively) compared with nonparticipants. Overall teaching skills were not significantly changed (p = .20 for student evaluation and p = .09 for self-assessments). Workshop participants also gained more confidence in their teaching (p = .001), and adopted more learner-centered approaches to teaching than did nonparticipants.


CONCLUSIONS
A 3-hour instructional workshop is a feasible and effective method to help residents improve their teaching skills, their confidence in teaching, and the approaches they use to teach medical students on the wards.
Spickard
A
A
Department of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA.
Corbett
E C
EC
Schorling
J B
JB
D000328:Adult; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000639:trends; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching