The Effect of a 13-Hour Curriculum To Improve Residents' Teaching Skills: A Randomized Trial
Publication: Annals of Internal Medicine
Volume 141, Number 4
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Abstract
Background:
Although resident physicians often teach, few trials have tested interventions to improve residents' teaching skills. A pilot trial in 2001–2002 found that 13 trained resident teachers taught better than did untrained control residents.
Objective:
To determine whether a longitudinal residents-as-teachers curriculum improves residents' teaching skills.
Design:
Randomized, controlled trial from May 2001 to February 2002 (pilot trial) and March 2002 to April 2003.
Setting:
4 generalist residencies affiliated with an urban academic medical center.
Participants:
62 second-year residents: 23 in the 2001–2002 pilot trial and 39 more in 2002–2003; 27 of the 39 participants were medicine residents required to learn teaching skills.
Intervention:
A 13-hour curriculum in which residents practiced teaching and received feedback during 1-hour small-group sessions taught twice monthly for 6 months.
Measurements:
A 3.5-hour, 8-station, objective structured teaching examination that was enacted and rated by 50 medical students before and after the intervention. Two trained, blinded raters independently assessed each station (inter-rater reliability, 0.75).
Results:
In the combined results for 2001–2003, the intervention group (n = 33) and control group (n = 29) were similar in sex, specialty, and academic performance. On a 1 to 5 Likert scale, intervention residents outscored controls on overall improvement score (post-test–pretest difference, 0.74 vs. 0.07; difference between intervention and control groups, 0.68 [95% CI, 0.55 to 0.81]; P < 0.001) by a magnitude of 2.8 standard deviations and on all 8 individual stations. The intervention residents improved 28.5% overall, whereas the scores of control residents did not increase significantly (2.7%). In 2002–2003, 19 intervention residents similarly outscored 19 controls (post-test–pretest difference, 0.83 vs. 0.14; difference between intervention and control groups, 0.69 [CI, 0.53 to 0.84]; P < 0.001). Twenty-seven medicine residents required to learn teaching skills achieved scores similar to those of volunteers.
Limitations:
The study was conducted at a single institution. No “real life” assessment with which to compare the results of the objective structured teaching examination was available.
Conclusions:
Generalist residents randomly assigned to receive a 13-hour longitudinal residents-as-teachers curriculum consistently showed improved teaching skills, as judged by medical student raters. Residents required to participate improved as much as volunteers did.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Annals of Internal Medicine
Volume 141 • Number 4 • 17 August 2004
Pages: 257 - 263
History
Published online: 17 August 2004
Published in issue: 17 August 2004
Keywords
Copyright
© 2004 American College of Physicians.
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The Effect of a 13-Hour Curriculum To Improve Residents' Teaching Skills: A Randomized Trial. Ann Intern Med.2004;141:257-263. [Epub 17 August 2004]. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-141-4-200408170-00005
The Effect of a 13-Hour Curriculum To Improve Residents' Teaching Skills: A Randomized Trial. Ann Intern Med.2004;141:257-263. [Epub 17 August 2004]. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-141-4-200408170-00005
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