The clinical teacher
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Clinical handover is a core skill that needs to be learned by students and junior clinical staff to improve patient safety. Despite this, training is frequently lacking and of poor quality. A user-friendly assessment tool can assist clinicians to provide training and feedback. ⋯ Doctors in the RFDS at Broken Hill used a clinical handover assessment tool (CHAT), based on the introduction, situation, background, assessment and recommendation (ISBAR) handover mnemonic, for assessment and training on telephone handovers given by medical students in this remote setting. Medical students were invited to complete surveys and doctors completed interviews about their experience of giving or receiving handovers. Students highly valued the experience of learning handovers in a clinical setting. Doctors in the RFDS found the tool helpful for assessment and for giving feedback in their routine work. We identified no concerns about the safety of patients or students. …we explored the acceptability and educational impact of doctors giving immediate feedback on medical students' handover skills using CHAT CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that work-based handover assessment and feedback provided by clinicians are feasible and should be developed further. Students can learn to give handovers safely even in a remote setting. Clinicians may find CHAT helpful in the learning and teaching of structured handovers in other clinical settings.
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The 'flipped classroom' instructional strategy has gained much momentum in educational discourse, yet no single educational offering exists in postgraduate medical education (PME) to systematically replace the lecture element of didactic sessions. This article describes the design and implementation of Clinical Anesthesia Fundamentals, the first known textbook in PME addressing this gap in resources through the integration of full-length interactive multimedia-enhanced video lectures. The 'flipped classroom' instructional strategy has gained much momentum in educational discourse INNOVATION: The textbook was developed in alignment with the content outline for the specialty provided by the American Board of Anesthesiology. Its accompanying video lectures, produced at the Media Lab in the Department of Anesthesiology at Boston University Medical Center (BUMC), cover the topics in each chapter of the textbook and include review questions featuring explanatory feedback. ⋯ This textbook provides an example for educators wishing to learn how to capitalise on advances in technology to further enhance learning and accessibility. Further studies could address the impact of this approach on the academic performance of residents.
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Bedside rounds are an ideal opportunity for clinical teaching. We previously offered faculty development on balancing learner autonomy, patient care and teaching. We noticed that participants often asked whether attending physicians and learners shared the same perceptions of the key elements (patient-centredness, efficiency and educational value) of bedside rounds. Understanding these perceptions and identifying areas of discordance would inform faculty development for optimal bedside rounds. ⋯ We identified salient beliefs and practices on bedside teaching. Our findings suggest that identifying shared goals and expectations, and creating metrics to define successful rounds, may help attending physicians to better synergize with learners. Interruptions need not be eschewed completely for the purpose of achieving efficient rounds. Integrating these measures into faculty development may bolster the quality of bedside rounds.
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During their training, medical students often undertake a rotation in an emergency department (ED), where they are exposed to a wide variety of patient presentations. Simulation can be an effective teaching strategy to help prepare learners for the realities of the clinical environment. Simulating an ED shift can provide students with the opportunity to perform a range of clinical activities, within their scope of practice, in a supervised and supportive learning environment. Medical students often undertake a rotation in an emergency department CONTEXT: There is limited literature describing the structure, syllabus, feasibility and perceived usefulness of simulating a typical ED for medical student training. ⋯ The simED approach seemed to be well received and perceived by medical students as useful preparation for the ED. An overview of the structure, materials and resources used is provided to assist educators seeking to implement similar ED clinical scenarios in their curriculum.