Premium
Peer observation to develop resident teaching
Author(s) -
Ricotta Daniel N,
Hale Andrew J,
Freed Jason A,
Taylor Jessica L,
Smith Christopher C
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the clinical teacher
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.354
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1743-498X
pISSN - 1743-4971
DOI - 10.1111/tct.13134
Subject(s) - peer feedback , medical education , curriculum , psychology , peer group , teaching method , faculty development , professional development , medicine , pedagogy , developmental psychology
Summary Background Developing teaching skills is a fundamental part of physician postgraduate training. Although resident‐as‐teacher curricula are proliferating, there is no clear consensus on how best to train resident physicians as clinical teachers. Peer observation has been shown to be effective in other settings, including faculty development, and could be adopted for resident teaching skill development. Methods The authors developed a 5‐day resident‐as‐teacher training programme, founded on three principles: (i) focused seminars; (ii) authentic teaching experiences; and (iii) peer observation. To provide genuine teaching experiences, course participants taught regularly scheduled curricular sessions. Residents were partnered with a peer; each delivered two teaching sessions and provided two peer observations. Results Evaluations revealed the course had a ‘major impact’ on participants’ teaching. Significant improvements were observed in self‐reported comfort and confidence with teaching and in providing feedback. Peer observation was cited as the most effective component of the course. Nearly all residents were both comfortable receiving and providing peer‐observed feedback. A majority of residents reported that they were more likely to seek feedback as a result of the course. The faculty member time required was limited to 1–2 hours per individual. Discussion Peer observation can be used effectively to engage residents and advance clinical teaching skills. Residents were generally comfortable giving and receiving feedback in peer‐observer dyads. Employing peer observation also reduced the amount of faculty member time needed to deliver resident‐as‐teacher programming, thereby facilitating the scalability of the programme. Allowing participants to teach during regular conference time allowed for smooth integration into the pre‐existing schedule for the training programme.