'So you want to be a clinician-educator...': designing a clinician-educator curriculum for internal medicine residents.
BACKGROUND
Despite a growing demand for skilled teachers and administrators in graduate medical education, clinician-educator tracks for residents are rare and though some institutions offer 'resident-as-teacher' programs to assist residents in developing teaching skills, the need exists to expand training opportunities in this area.


METHODS
The authors conducted a workshop at a national meeting to develop a description of essential components of a training pathway for internal medicine residents. Through open discussion and small group work, participants defined the various roles of clinician-educators and described goals, training opportunities, assessment and resource needs for such a program.


RESULTS
Workshop participants posited that the clinician-educator has several roles to fulfill beyond that of clinician, including those of teacher, curriculum developer, administrator and scholar. A pathway for residents aspiring to become clinician educators must offer structured training in each of these four areas to empower residents to effectively practice clinical education. In addition, the creation of such a track requires securing time and resources to support resident learning experiences and formal faculty development programs to support institutional mentors and leaders.


CONCLUSIONS
This article provides a framework by which leaders in medical education can begin to prepare current trainees interested in careers as clinician-educators.
Heflin
Mitchell T
MT
Duke University Medical Center, DUMC 3003, Durham, NC 27710, USA. hefli001@mc.duke.edu
Pinheiro
Sandro
S
Kaminetzky
Catherine P
CP
McNeill
Diana
D
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000639:trends; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004493:Education; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000639:trends