The COE course on medical education was so enlightening!

Melissa P. D'souza, MD

Fellow in Geriatric Medicine

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 4

10/26/2020

Melissa P. D'souza, M.D. 

This COE course allowed a space for us trainees to truly understand the complexity of medical education. It made me realize the certain characteristics that are most memorable from our favorite teachers is not knowledge alone but the ability to engage and their dedication to teaching. It has changed the way I will approach learners and how to tailor the same educational session to varying levels of students.  A current technique I am using is to engage learners more often in a session which allows me, the teacher, to truly appreciate their understanding of the knowledge. This then allows for tailored and more meaningful education.

Teaching for Teachers

Hina J. Shah, MD

Resident in Nuclear Medicine

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 8

11/13/2020 

Hina J. Shah, M.D. 

This was the first time I participated in the Centre of expertise course. This was a virtual session. It gave an amazing opportunity to meet so many co-trainees/colleagues from different specialty which is rare even though we are such a huge academic setting. I am a physician but that allows me to play multiple roles one of which is that of teacher. It was interesting to see that people face similar challenges as a teacher.

One must be innovative in these challenging times of virtual teaching where ‘teacher’ and ‘students’ are not always seeing each other. It is important to know about the various tools which are available to do this and make the teaching more effective. This course helped me to understand various methods which one can use to make teaching more effective and interactive. I have already employed some of these methods and I think it is helping me make my teaching more engaged.

I want to continue my career as a physician-teacher as I think at the end of the day what we all want is to know that we are making a positive difference to someone. And what way then a teacher to make that difference.

Having such courses help you meet people from different fields with similar challenges and one can come up with innovative solution to the problems. I think it would be great if these courses are incorporated in the curriculum, at least 1 to 2 lectures; this way one would know what interests them and the available opportunities. And the later courses could be optional and that way everyone who enters this institute knows what work COE does and how they use it for one’s maximum teaching.

I incorporated some of the tips from the course like quick audience feedback and it was wonderful to know areas of your strength and where you can improvise.

I am hoping to find a job soon in an academic setting where I can continue being a teacher-physician and utilize all the treasurable tips I got from this course.

This clinical teaching skills course by COE was an enlightening and a happy experience!

Pocket Talks: A hidden gem in time-limited teaching.

Kathleen Weiss, MD

Resident in Cardiothoracic Surgery

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 3

11/12/2020 

Kathleen Weiss, M.D. 

The COE CTS course was fantastic. The lectures highlighted important concepts in educational theory, and integrated those principles with day-to-day practical elements in teaching and learning. The presentation on situated cognition and constructivism was particularly relevant and incredibly useful; it underscored in my mind how little instruction we receive during our training on how to teach (as opposed to what to teach). The solidarity in discussing obstacles to teaching and learning stood out as a highlight of the program, and there was some consolation in the collective recognition that time (or lack thereof!) is a pervasive barrier to teaching and learning in the clinical realm. We discussed strategies for mitigating this challenge, with one being a suggestion for having “pocket talks” prepared in advance, i.e., brief, pre-planned lessons on important topics that you know will be relevant to your anticipated learning cohort. I have since prepared several of these “pocket talks” to have on hand to use when the opportunity arises. I practiced one with a med student and it was a tremendous success! This small victory encourages me to put this strategy into practice and capitalize on seemingly small opportunities to teach during brief (2-5 minute) chances to do so. There is a lot that can be learned from even a small amount of time! Preparing and executing my “pocket talk” also gave me newfound confidence in my own teaching potential, and cultivated a mindset of making this a regular part of my professional/academic endeavors moving forward.

Changing How I Learn

Kristina Thurin, MD

Fellow in Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 6

11/11/2020 

Kristina Thurin, M.D. 

The Clinical Teaching Course gave me the opportunity to closely examine the factors that improve how I learn from others as well as how I teach. The presentations outlining the cognitive science of teaching and learning resonated with me given my interest in neuropsychiatry. The course made me realize that most of my education has been based in a model that is not necessarily in line with how we learn, retain, and recall information. I will definitely be modifying how I study and how I teach moving forward.

The strong focus on examining our experience of giving and getting feedback was also exceptionally valuable, especially hearing other trainees’ experiences. These sessions have motivated me to put more thought into both seeking and giving directed feedback while still in training and moving forward in my career.

 

COE Course on Medical Education Implores Us to Think Harder About Our Learners.

Michael Stephen Kelly, MD

Resident in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 3

11/11/2020

Michael Stephen Kelly, M.D. 

As a trainee, so much of the job is to devote your time and energy to learn as much as we can. In caring for patients, we seek to grow from the guidance of our attendings, seek to better understand our patients and emulate our professional role models. So naturally, when trainees go to teach—whether it be our peers, medical students, or our patients—we seek to transfer that knowledge. This is the pitfall that trainees-as-teachers often fall into, focusing on the knowledge to be transferred and not on the recipient of that knowledge. The COE course on medical education was hugely helpful in giving me not only the learner perspective, but also evidence based practices that I could use to make sure I was teaching in a way that was effective for my learner. We need trainees to have more access to experiences like this.

 I can remember countless times when others have tried to teach me in the middle of a procedure, quizzing me about anatomy or complications. I remember in those moments wanting to focus on my attending, but also wanting to devote my focus to the task at hand, to do right by my patient. The COE course showed me that I wasn’t the only one, that trainees have a very hard time switching tasks from procedures to learning and back again—splitting their attention. I will certainly use the new strategies I learned during this course to change my practice away from interrupting the learner, to choosing moments for formative feedback at a time when the learner can focus on that learning.

 This course gave great opportunities to practice and hone or teaching skills, which is great to have low stakes time to workshop teaching. But, it also provided evidence for teaching techniques and theories. This is huge. We rarely have the opportunity as trainees to think in this way about teaching, often simply teaching in a way we feel like teachers we have liked did it. We must go further than this, seeking to teach in a way that is truly effective. This course helped push me along that path.

COE Helps us fight imposter syndrome in ourselves and future trainees.

Emily Jane Kivlehan, MD

Fellow in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital 

PGY 5

11/13/2020

Emily Jane Kivlehan, M.D. 

Imposter syndrome is the sense of self-doubt and fear of being discovered as an intellectual fraud despite objective professional success¹. Initially found in groups of professional women, it has more recently been discovered to have a high prevalence throughout medical trainees^2,3.  In my personal experience, imposter syndrome “flares” especially in a new setting. Recently joining Harvard Medical School as a PGY-5 fellow in pediatric rehabilitation medicine, there have been new colleagues to meet, hospital cultures to adjust to and the ever-present struggle of finding the bathroom in a new building. Because of my passion for medical education, I signed up for the Center of Expertise Clinical Teaching Skills Course (and as above, of course thought maybe I wouldn’t be accepted and might be out of place if accepted). Upon a workshop session of reviewing the barriers trainees face to teaching, I noted “I don’t know enough” was common.

Trainees are sandwiched between engrossing ourselves in the learning environment to work toward our own autonomous practice and being responsible for adding to the medical education of trainees and medical students. As such, it may not be shocking that we wonder how we can teach others when we are not yet the experts. However, in our own word cloud, the most common listed qualities to describe our best teacher included “engaging,” “approachable,” “feedback,” “learning,” “supportive,” “patient” and “knowledgeable”. Despite our own self-doubts, the knowledge of our own teacher only listed ones out of the top 7 qualities.

I hope recognizing that we are not alone in our doubts – even those of us dedicated to signing up for an extra course on education – will be a first step toward fighting this component of imposter syndrome. Other tangible ways our group considered to combat this are to pick “bite-size” topics that we have prepared. This allows for flow into the busy workday and helps us build our own confidence by repeating certain topics. As we learn more, we can prepare more of these small topics. Second, if learners ask questions we do not immediately have an answer to, we can normalize the fact that we don’t all know it all quite yet. Beyond teaching clinical items, this helps us teach that we are not expected to know everything, hopefully fighting halting the development of imposter syndrome for those learners in the future!

1.         Clance PI, S. The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. 1978;15(3):241-247.

2.         Legassie J, Zibrowski EM, Goldszmidt MA. Measuring resident well-being: impostorism and burnout syndrome in residency. J Gen Intern Med. 2008;23(7):1090-1094.

3.         Brown DW, Binney G, Gauthier Z, Blume ED. Fears and Stressors of Trainees Starting Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology. Pediatr Cardiol. 2020;41(4):677-682.

 

Benefits of Clinical Teach Skills Course

Ryan M. Militana, DO

Fellow in Obstetric Anesthesiology 

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 5

11/11/2020

Ryan M. Militana, DO

The partners Center of Excellence Clinical Teaching Skills Course was an invaluable experience as a healthcare provider at my level of training. The transition from resident to fellow is an experience that combines both clinical and supervisor roles that can be a challenge to balance at times. This course has offered a window into the various types of learning and how to optimize teaching in a variety of settings to help my own learning as well as teaching residents. The course also provided an opportunity learn more about the structure and support systems that the partners organization offers its members. The course allowed me to witness the presentation and learning styles of my colleagues as well as interact with individuals from other areas of medicine outside of my day to day interactions. I found the course to be incredibly valuable and I trust I will be utilizing its teachings as a I move forward in my own career.

 

Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn.

Yun-Han (Hannah) Huang, MD. 

Resident in Internal Medicine

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 1

11/13/2020 

Yun-Han (Hannah) Huang, MD

In May, as medical schools in NYC prepared to restart clinical rotations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I was recruited to help organize a course on COVID-19. Newly graduated, I found it an exciting but challenging experience—one that increased my appreciation of the dedicated medical educators with whom I worked. Motivated to learn more, I applied to the COE Clinical Teaching Skills Course this fall.

 The most surprising part of the course, however, was that the concepts that we learned were applicable beyond clinical teaching. We learned, for example, about a 70/30 rule of information transfer. The concept is that experts, when explaining a procedure, only transmit 30% of the information necessary to replicate that procedure. Only 30%! Imagine the variety of scenarios where this could apply beyond clinical teaching:

-          Clinical and scientific presentations

-          Interactions with patients

-          Hand-offs between clinical team members

 Returning to my next clinical rotation, I found that this framework changed the way I asked and answered questions. After all, 30% information transfer means that the remaining 70% needs to be solicited. This concept (and others presented in the course) improved my interactions with colleagues and patients, and it made me not only a better teacher but also a better learner.

 

Thought Provoking.

Denis T. Balaban, MD

Resident in Neurology 

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 4

11/11/2021 

Denis T. Balaban, M.D. 

I remember my delight when I learned that the word “doctor” comes from the Latin word for “teacher.” It beautifully described how I view the profession because I consider teaching to be one of the most important roles that doctors have. Sharing our knowledge of what patients’ symptoms mean, how an illness can affect their lives, and what we can do about it empowers them, giving them agency over their illness. Teaching students and residents about the practice of medicine on the wards can make significant differences in patient care and career choices.  Yet for how important teaching is, doctors receive little formal training on how to do it effectively. The Clinical Teaching Skills Course through the Centers of Expertise gave me the opportunity to discuss aspects of teaching with experts and peers to think about how I can hone my skills.

 Going into the course, I wanted to work on how to give every student and resident I work with tailored feedback on their performance. Sometimes I found that the most specific feedback I could give some students was “read more and continue to practice the neurologic exam,” which is about the most generic feedback anyone can give on a neurology service. After the course, I realized that when on the wards, one of the biggest obstacles to giving specific feedback was the time crunch on our service. The busier the service, the more I would view students’ and residents’ work through a lens of accomplishing tasks rather than thinking about their works’ areas of strength and improvement. When I’m back on the wards as the senior, I’m going to prepare a list of small, easy-to-make changes that I can incorporate into my daily routine to try to circumvent this tendency. My plan is that by implementing these changes, I’ll become an even better observer of my students and residents’ performance so that I can give them more specific and constructive feedback. I hope to never have “read more” as the main point of my evaluations again!

Launching my Career in Medical Education.

Kristian J.  Von Rickenbach, MD, MS

Fellow in Sports Medicine (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) 

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital 

PGY 5

11/12/2020 

Kristian J. Von Rickenbach, M.D., M.S. 

I have always had an interest in the how of learning. How do we accept information, take it in, process it and then store it for recall? Through medical school and residency, I have tried many different approaches to learning and memory retention, some which have worked better than others. When a topic does not stick, I feel frustrated at my inability to acquire the knowledge expected of me in a timely manner. Through the COE’s Clinical Teaching Course, I was taught about learning theory and can more easily understand why I have had deficits in my own learning, and how I can improve my learning in the future. This course was engaging and left me feeling passionate about learning more about the how of learning and teaching and why it it is such an important topic that we should all learn about it medicine. The Clinical Teaching Course is a valuable course for all medical professionals as we are all teachers to each other and to our patients. It taught me that teaching, just as learning, is a skill – one that should be studied, critiqued and adjusted. I look forward to working in medical education in my future career and this course was a perfect launching point toward that professional goal.

Empowering the next generation of educators!

Derek S. Stenquist, M.D. 

Resident in Orthopaedic Surgery  

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 5

11/12/2020

The COE clinical teaching course allowed me to take a first concrete step towards a major goal I have in my career, which is to be an excellent surgical educator like some of my mentors. I know that being a standout educator takes dedicated practice and I was really excited that this course allowed me to take a first step toward acquiring these skills.

The teaching scenario portion of the clinical teaching
course was a great opportunity to break practice 
putting together a lesson for learners. The feedback
from peers was excellent!

 The COE clinical teaching course changed how I think about my future, because it showed me the value of becoming a more thoughtful and deliberate educator. Just the fact that this course is offered to trainees really sends a message that educational aptitude is valued and that I should spend more time thinking about how I behave and perform as an educator. I was particularly fascinated by the very concrete ways we can apply findings from the educational theory experiments we discussed to enhance our clinical teaching. It made me want to incorporate it into my career to become a stronger educator and make this part of my identity as a surgical attending.

I also loved that I didn’t need to wait to start using what I learned in the COE course. I went to work the very next day and tried to apply some of what I learned in my interactions with younger residents in order to be a better educator as a senior resident. I take more care to elicit a learner’s goals and I am more deliberate about the lessons I want to impart. I will also use the skills from the course in my next role as a fellow and then as an attending for both teaching and for giving feedback. We discussed very specific strategies for giving feedback and I realized that the attendings in our program who already use these strategies for feedback are the best educators. I aspire to be like them.

Overall, I’m very grateful for this opportunity and the fact that the GME office sets aside a day to have experts create this programming and then sponsors residents to attend. It empowers us to become the next generation of medical educators and pay it forward.

An Evidence-Based Course in Clinical Teaching.

Laura Z. Hyde, MD, MPH

Fellow in Surgical Critical Care

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 6

11/13/2020

Laura Hyde, M.D., M.P.H. 

As a surgical critical care fellow, I work with interdisciplinary teams of learners at different stages in their careers. Given the rapid turnover on our teams and the clinical complexity of the modern tertiary care intensive care unit, it is easy to focus only on patient care. While patient care is correctly the center of everything we do, teaching is also an essential part of our work and I signed up for this course to help me re-center teaching in my work flow.

The CTS course gave me an opportunity to reflect on some of the challenges of teaching in this environment and equipped me with additional tools and strategies. The content was thoughtful and focused, and full of valuable insight into how we learn, all clearly supported by data. We were introduced to a better model for giving feedback and the “sandwich method” was carefully debunked.  I was grateful for this opportunity and would happily sign up for a sequel.

Feedback: Beyond "nice."

Jie Jane Chen, M.D. 

Resident in Internal Medicine

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 1

11/13/2020

Jie Jane Chen, M.D. 

During the session on "Newer Conceptualizations of Feedback in Medical Education" in the COE Clinical Teaching Skills course, Dr. Subha Ramani asked us to reflect on feedback that we have received as learners that we have either readily accepted or rejected. I volunteered that I have been told that I am “nice” and have received feedback on my personality, which can be challenging for how exactly to translate this feedback into continuing or changing my approach to patient care. This opened several one-on-one thought-provoking conversations in the Zoom chat with other women in the session about experiences that they also have had with receiving personality-based feedback and ongoing research describing and developing ways to decrease gender-based microaggressions.

 I enjoyed having a space in this course to dialogue about effective and less effective feedback, including considerations of both content and delivery along with the impact of our implicit biases in the feedback process. One idea from this course that I will carry forward with me in the bidirectional feedback process with team members and medical students is to model a growth mindset as a teacher when giving and receiving feedback. I hope to be a teacher that continually strives to improve how I care for patients and engage with learners, and to inspire this interest in learners as well. This course has impacted my approach and interest in providing greater feedback opportunities for learners and strengthened my commitment to give concrete examples of specific areas and actions for growth for my learners.

Clinical Education in the Zoom Era

Simone P. Montoya, M.D. 

Fellow in Neuroradiology 

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 7+

11/11/2020

Zoom Meeting

I am fortunate to have abundant elective time to develop skills pertinent to my future career, which is on track to be in academic radiology. This was my second time attending the Clinical Teaching Skills Course – I wanted to reinforce concepts learned my first time around, but I was also interested in how the virtual environment would be addressed.

Although the shift towards working and learning remotely was not specifically addressed, it was readily apparent in my group’s micro-teaching sessions. My group had representation from Medicine and from Surgery. I learned from the prior course that those outside Radiology don’t necessarily appreciate how the visual nature of our field actually makes it more challenging to teach to others, which is contrary to what most people expect, but we as a field have embraced virtual education. Radiology has adapted to distance learning extremely well – although there are nuances lost by not being in the same room, much of what we do is easily translatable to the virtual environment, as long as the appropriate technologic infrastructure is in place. I used the same topic as from my first time attending the course and, based on feedback from before, took advantage of screen sharing to show an example study. I feel I did better than before, not only because of my prior course experience, but also because of what I’ve picked up over the past several months.

This is in stark contrast to those in other fields of medicine, which all but necessitate in-person interactions. Being isolated in radiology, I didn’t appreciate the extent to which clinical education has been uprooted. The internist reenacted a (not so) hypothetical teaching session with a patient that would ideally be in person, but realistically would probably be done over Zoom. We discussed how the same strategies she used to prepare for our session could be used for her virtual clinic visits. The surgeon demonstrated to us an at-home hack she had devised to substitute for the OR experience that she and her colleagues were missing, and we suggested that, rather than merely adapting to the virtual environment, she actually take advantage of it to create an instructional video. For all of us, the opportunity to share our lessons with those outside our field was invaluable, but the virtual environment added an additional layer of outside perspective which I think ultimately helped us all.

COE CTS Course Reminded Me Teachers Remain Learners.

Laura A. Dean, M.D. 

Resident in Emergency Medicine

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 3

11/06/2020 

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

Having recently started my third year of Emergency Medicine residency I function now as a senior resident in our department. Expanded responsibility for teaching and guiding junior residents was my primary impetus in signing up for the COE course in clinical teaching. However it became clear to me as I delved into the course readings and seminars that as much as I am focused on developing my teaching skills, I remain a learner who has much to gain in understanding my own educational process.

In the weeks following the course, I continue to dwell on the distinction between the growth and fixed mindsets. The co-residents I most admire as teachers and learners exhibit strong growth mindsets: eager to try new procedures, constantly challenging themselves to meet new standards, invested in expanding the pie rather than merely their share of it. Sometimes my own timidity and fear limits my growth potential, a fixed mindset seen creeping in the back...I am grateful to the course for articulating these distinct approaches and encouraging the value of a lifelong growth mindset. As I hoped and expected, the course addressed many of my questions about experiential learning, teaching procedures, and guiding junior residents in a collaborative teaching model and gave me valuable frameworks to test out as I develop my own personal style. The surprising take-away reminded me that teachers remain learners. We are privileged to work and learn in a collaborative rather than hierarchical system wherein we have much to gain from co-workers at all levels. Thank you to my course classmates for all their contributions to helping me better understand my own teaching and learning styles.

Teaching the Teacher: Learning to Give (and Receive) Feedback Effectively.

Elyse J. Brinkmann, M.D. 

Fellow in Adult Reconstruction (Orthopedic Surgery) 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 7

11/09/2020

Elyse J. Brinkmann, M.D. 

The COE Clinical Teaching Skills Course provided an amazing opportunity to learn from faculty who are passionate about improving medical education and to collaborate with peers from various specialties across the Partners health system.  While this course was limited to a virtual setting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lessons were still incredibly relevant and well adapted to our current environment.  I have enjoyed teaching and mentoring throughout my life, and I am anticipating accepting an academic position next year, but I have had few opportunities during my training to learn how to be an effective clinician educator.  This course helped satisfy this desire to learn how to be a better teacher.

I enjoyed being exposed to new concepts through the course about how to employ effective adult learning strategies and constructive feedback focused on a growth mindset.  It was very interesting to hear that peers from different specialties face many of the same obstacles with regards to medical education, but also value the same basic principles when it comes to characterizing an outstanding teacher.  I am thrilled by the challenge to take these lessons into my interactions with residents and medical students both throughout the remainder of my last year of fellowship and thereafter as a faculty member.  I hope to be able to engage my trainees and colleagues to promote a positive feedback environment using the skills learned in this incredible course.

I wish I had the opportunity to attend CTS course during high school!

Rishab Gupta, MD, MBBS

Fellow in Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 5

11/08/2020

Rishab Gupta, M.D., M.B.B.S. 

The COE Clinical Teaching Skills course was a revelation for me. I feel I have gained some precious insights into how I can become more effective teacher and learner. In medical school, I and my friends used to often joke about how medical knowledge “evaporates” so quickly. But now I know several ways by which I can “soak” it. Apart from using the knowledge gotten from the course to hone my teaching skills, I am also strongly considering sharing teaching/learning tips with my less privileged friends and colleagues in India who cannot attend this course.

I believe it is valuable not only for residents and fellows but for any student/teacher at any level. I really wish I had been exposed to this training when I was in high school, I would have been a more prepared student during exams and later in medical school.

I have now modified the way I provide feedback to residents and medical students. I love the concept of treating feedback as a dialogue, and not a monologue. My residents appear more comfortable when I discuss their evaluation with them.

As an aspiring academician, soon to wear the faculty hat, I feel more confident about the transition where I would be expected to give classes to medical students and residents regularly, all thanks to this course.

I want course organizers to seriously consider holding it more frequently so that more people can benefit from it.

Unique Opportunity to Learn How to Teach

Kaeleen Anne Boden, M.D. 

Resident in Anesthesiology 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 4

11/06/2020

Kaeleen Anne Boden, M.D. 

I am grateful that I was afforded the time to attend this course because it fulfils a major gap in clinical education. As developing leaders in our respective fields, we are expected to be educators for junior residents and medical students, yet we often receive little, if any, formal education on how to approach that responsibility effectively. This is the first time I had a platform to focus on ways to become an productive teacher for adult learners.

It is rare to have the opportunity to receive feedback on teaching style, techniques and strategy. In fact, I don’t think I fully realized how unique an opportunity this course offered until I presented my five-minute lecture to my peers. I had never had the opportunity to present a lecture with the sole purpose of receiving feedback on my teaching skills. I found the comments to be incredibly impactful and I hope to incorporate those tips into future lectures. It is so important to have this sort of experience during clinical training years because without a solid foundation in basic teaching theory we will struggle to become effective clinical educators in our career.

Mostly, after finishing this course I felt inspired by the stories brought to the table by my colleagues. Listening to their struggles and strategies to improve clinical teaching makes me feel confident in the upcoming generation of clinicians striving to make clinical education meaningful to both teachers and learners.

Thank you, COE!

Future/Past/Present of Medical Education.

Sindhu Krishnan, M.D. 

Fellow in Perioperative Medicine & Ambulatory Anesthesia 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 5

11/03/2020

Sindhu Krishnan, M.D. 

The COE Clinical Teaching Skills course was an extremely enlightening, fun and thought-provoking course. As an anesthesiologist, I have a unique challenge of teaching in the OR, behind the drapes, often small and cramped, with no desk, white board or coffee. The environment has some unique distractions for a teaching moment as we need to remain vigilant to first and foremost take care of our patient, listen to the all of the monitors beeping, and simultaneously listening to the surgeon’s conversation amongst each other to make sure everything is going well. The culture of our specialty is that our anesthesia residents will call the attending the night before to discuss and plan for our cases the next day. This allows the attending and resident to come up with a plan for an educational session as well. From this course, I learned that it is helpful to really center our teaching around the adult learner, adapting to their responses and having a plan. For example, creating an environment of mutual respect is essential – this could be asking the resident if they have anything they want to discuss or if they are ok with discussing a topic the attending suggest. As teachers, we often need materials – in the OR, this could either be a pen and paper, or a journal article. Asking what the resident prefers – for e.g. do you want me to email you an article the night before, or should we go over it together in the OR, gives the resident to take control of their education and center it around their learning preferences.

During the mini-teaching session in the course, my facilitator was a fellow anesthesiologist. It was great hearing comments on how I could improve my teaching not only from an experienced anesthesiologist, but also from physicians of other specialties.  It provided a unique perspective that made me feel empowered to become a strong educator. As we are in the midst of a major culture change in medical education, it is important we find out how to adapt. The importance of mental health, a safe and open learning environment, and mutual trust and respect are essential to learners. By keeping this in mind, we can move away from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset where learners are appreciative of challenges and growth rather than feel defeated by failure. In medical school and early in residency, I myself encountered many instances where I felt defeated by having just one bad day in the OR. I find it extremely encouraging that we are finally in a time where the learner’s mind, heart, and individualism are part of formulating an educational plan. Proper feedback systems can allow this, and ultimately is a two-way street to allow both the teacher and learner to grow. I am excited about the future of medical education and am grateful that I had an opportunity to take this course and engage in dialogue regarding our challenges and learn how we can improve as a field and how I can improve as an educator. 

 

From Learner to Teacher

 Aviva Y. Cohn, M.D. 

Fellow in Endocrinology 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 6

11/08/2020

Aviva Y. Cohn, M.D. 

Despite decades of formal education, rarely do we delve into how we learn best, and the most effective ways to teach others. The medical field has learning and teaching imbued in its core; upon starting medical school one is exclusively a learner soaking up every bit of information. Then as we advance through training the roles quickly shift, and though we remain learners, we become teachers to more novice trainees.   

To advance in such a system, I think it is pivotal for each of us to engage in comprehending the processes that we undergo to learn, and how our brains process information. With an understanding of the learning process, instead of feeling frustrated we can’t remember things once memorized, we should feel compassionate to ourselves and others. Taking this further, it is essential to integrate these ideas into a platform for teaching others. Upon crossing from learner to teacher, we are rather suddenly pushed into a new educator role. 

Without resources to gauge ourselves as educators it is hard to assess our efficacy as teachers: Am I engaging enough? Am I conveying the message clearly? Is this too much information? To improve in these areas, we need a space for modelling and feedback. A course that can nourish insight into the learning process and from there provide tools for teaching and feedback is essential as we transition from learner to teacher in our service as medical professionals.

Valuable and engaging course on Clinical Skills Teaching.

Sarah E. Conway, M.D. 

Fellow in Multiple Sclerosis 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 5

10/28/2020

Sarah Conway, M.D. 

I recently participated in the COE course on Clinical Skills Teaching, and highly recommend it for anyone interested in medical education. Though I have been interested in medical education since the beginning of residency, I had never had any formal training in how to teach or give feedback. In this course I gained valuable exposure into cognitive theories. One major takeaway was the “30/70 rule” which brings to light that when a teacher is teaching a learner a certain skill or topic, they will often only give the learner 30% of the needed information. This is critical because it can help us understand why a learner may not be learning the topic, and will impact how I teach in the future.

 The course also provided valuable insight on giving feedback, and the importance of creating an environment of growth and mutual respect, and giving direct feedback in the moment. I will use these skills as I work with medical students and residents in this year to help foster their learning and growth. The best part of the course was the chance to practice our own teaching in small groups and getting to know other residents and fellows interested in medical education

Transmitting the passion of what I enjoy about medicine and research.

Ignacio Alberto Portales Castillo, M.D. 

Fellow in Nephrology 

Brigham and Women's Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 5

11/01/2020

Ignacio A. Portales Castillo, M.D. (L) 

Most of us in medicine have certain topics of that we find vey interesting and are eager to talk about them if the opportunity comes. Communicating with others is what makes or job more enjoyable. We often find, however, that when we try to communicate why we find a topic to be of interest and important we struggle to come up with the adequate form and words to teach. It is often frustrating to realize that the learner does not retain the message. 

The clinical teaching skills course provides foundation knowledge about the basis of learning and also gives you the opportunity of applying your skills in an interactive session. The course allowed me to be more comfortable when teaching medical students, residents and even colleagues, and to provide and receive more effective feedback. 

This has made my work more enjoyable both in the hospital and in the laboratory. In addition, I now have simple, yet effective tricks that I apply when studying a new subject, which have improved how much information I retain while studying, thus making me a more efficient learner and teacher.

Learning How to Teach is Fun!

Jennifer E. Yeh, M.D., Ph.D

Resident in Dermatology 

Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 4

10/28/2020

Group brainstorm of challenges of clinical teaching

During my residency training, I have been fortunate to have opportunities to practice my teaching skills. However, while these were great opportunities to practice what to teach, I have never received any formal guidance on how to teach. By completing the half-day Centers of Expertise (COE) Clinical Teaching Skills course, I not only had an opportunity to hone my teaching skills but also learned about cognitive science and discussed strategies for overcoming common challenges of clinical teaching such as limited time, different levels of learners, and a virtual environment.

I especially enjoyed the 5-minute teaching scenario exercise because it was such a fun way to interact with residents and fellows in other specialties while practicing how to teach bite-sized nuggets of dermatology information. It was helpful to see how other trainees interested in medical education engage their learners.

Participating in this course reinforced by passion for academic medicine. I look forward to using what I learned from this course in my role as chief resident while planning the didactic curriculum and while teaching and giving feedback to rotating medical students and junior residents in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. This course highlighted how to cultivate a growth mindset for giving, seeking, and receiving feedback which I look forward to implementing myself.

As Dr. Milligan, one of the faculty directors of this course, appropriately said: “Today is a great day to learn something new!”

COE CTS: Learning to Teach

Qinglan Huang, MD

Resident in Anesthesiology 

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 2

10/31/2020

Qinglan Huang, M.D. 

As physicians, we're given to understand that in academic medicine, we must all become outstanding teachers - but never in medical school did we learn exactly how to teach. Throughout my schooling, I have been exposed to many different styles of teaching and I was told that I should find the studying method that is most effective for me personally. However, as I have learned throughout the CTS course, there are evidence-based methods to learning and teaching - methods that may have helped significantly had we applied them throughout our education process and will help significantly if we apply them in our role as both learners and teachers from now onwards.

Understanding the steps to delivering impactful feedback and the importance of context-dependent memory will help guide the way I plan to teach in the future. If we are to apply our learning directly in the operating room, then teaching critical skills in the OR setting makes much more sense than teaching those same steps in a classroom setting, even if the same equipment is present in both settings. This COE CTS course has made me think deeper into the standardized tests that currently act as the certification and confirmation of our learning the proper material - and what potential other, better markers may exist to ensure learning.

We are oftentimes too caught up in our day-to-day schedules that we don't think deeper into how we can do and teach more efficiently, in a way that is more engaging and allows our learners to retain more of that information. It was refreshing to hear that same sentiment be echoed by so many of my peers, and to learn to tackle that problem together.

Cultivating a growth mindset in both learners and educators.

 Anna Marie Martens, M.D. 

Resident in Pediatrics

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 1

11/01/2020

Anna Marie Martens, M.D. 

 As a medical student, you encounter innumerable teachers throughout your education. Whether that be in the classroom with your professor or peer to peer education, to the wards where you are constantly learning from residents, attendings, nurses, staff or patients. Throughout my years of being a learner, I can think of a handful of people who had an incredible impact on me as a learner through their teaching. I can think back to the exact time and remember discreetly the educational points that they made and how influential these moments were for me as a learner. I can also think back to specific times where I was in situations that were not constructive and made me feel inadequate as a learner.

As an intern resident, my role has just recently converted from being a learner to now both a learner and educator. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the positive experiences and role models that I have had as a learner and identifying ways that I can incorporate their ways of teaching into my own.

The Centers for Expertise Course on Medical Education helped me understand the theories behind effective teaching and learning. I was able to integrate my past experiences and understand why certain teaching methods were more effective than others. Through this, I have been able to come up with concrete goals for myself about the educator I hope to become and how I will accomplish that. Being surrounded by so many talented clinicians who are excited and dedicated to improving their teaching skills was inspiring and it made me excited to go back and teach my co-residents about what I learned, and how we can create a strong culture of education as a team.

Excellence is rarely found, more valued!

Prazwala Chirravur, BDS, MS

Resident in Oral Medicine

Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard School of Dental Medicine

PGY 2

10/31/2020

Prazwala Chirravur, BDS, MS

“Change is the essence of life”. 

In the advent of recent pandemic and current unprecedented times, people are unaware and inquisitive about the new normal. This applies to clinical settings and providers. Though clinical and academic teaching is an integral part of residency, I was contemplating a change that can help me progress and develop my teaching skills. I consider the COE course to have been the right thing at the right time for me. The COE curriculum enhanced my creativity and provided me a platform for innovation. With the teaching stage having transformed more so since the pandemic, Zoom and Teams have emerged and have been dominating. We are always challenged with ideas for more interactive teaching, and our quest to relentlessly engage the learners and expand their horizon.

COE medical education course is an amazing course which fosters a positive teaching and learning environment, and I would strongly recommend making this a part of every specialty. The tools and segments furnished us with new strategies for teaching and reassured the process. While there are some great ideas and platforms to build bright opportunities for prospective students, I personally aspire to work for providing uninterrupted knowledge and experience with edification. The course encouraged me to stay connected with the current technology and methodologies and helped me apply to my dream classroom and clinical situations. I am confident that this experience would help me step into leadership roles in future, and I am looking forward to applying these foundations into my academic and clinical settings.

Developing the Next Generation of Clinician Educators

Ryan Chung, M.D. 

Fellow in Abdominal Imaging

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 6

10/30/2020

Ryan Chung, M.D. 

The COE clinical teaching skills course was a fantastic one-day course that opened my eyes to the cognitive science of adult learning. This course allowed me to interact with like-minded house staff across the Partners enterprise. We bonded over our interest in becoming better clinical educators and learners, as well as our shared concerns related to balancing work and teaching responsibilities, keeping learners engaged, and providing impactful feedback.

 The didactic portions of the course were packed with meaningful concepts that have already impacted the way I approach my own learning from understanding the detriments of multitasking (cognitive overload) and embracing a learning goal orientation. Furthermore, our discussions and practical 5-minute teaching session provided a forum for sharing tips that I will utilize in my daily practice to become a stronger clinician educator. A course like this is a prime example of how medical education continues to evolve and emphasize the importance of teaching excellence in peer, educator-learner, and doctor-patient interactions. I would highly recommend this course to all medical trainees!

Deconstructing the Challenge of Clinical Teaching

Malak Al-Hadlaq, BDS 

Resident in Oral Medicine

Brigham and Women's Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute

PGY 2

10/26/2020

Malak Al-Hadlaq, M.D. 

As a resident trainee with a future career objective of becoming an educator in my field, the COE clinical teaching skills course has led me one step closer towards achieving that goal. Clinical teaching and acquiring its requisite skills are faced with many challenges. This course allowed me to identify those obstacles, analyze different involved aspects, and postulate feasible solutions. Furthermore, it has provided me with a clearer perspective on the critically important learning element of feedback. Constructive criticism is an art and science which has the ability to elevate both learners and teachers. Throughout the course, I practiced various tools for feedback which I will be applying in future teaching interactions.

During residency, we trainees are given some responsibility of teaching our fellow junior residents and students. Taking the knowledge I’ve gained through the COE CTS course, I will be utilizing different techniques conducive to providing a positive learning experience. Also, I am able to use key concepts discussed in the course for my own learning journey. “Learning how to learn” is a potent tool in succeeding to meet educational goals. In my opinion, students at all levels should be equipped with those tools. Hopefully, in my future role as a teacher and clinical instructor in an educational institution, I will try to integrate this into my teaching.

 

Great Day of Learning New Teaching Techniques!

Kayla Theresa Hartjes, M.D. 

Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellow

Massachusetts General Hospital 

PGY 5

11/12/2020

Kayla Theresa Hartjes, M.D. 

The COE clinical skill teaching course provided a great opportunity to expand my teaching skills specifically to adult learners. Not only did the course give practical information on how best to teach to adult learners but in turn it taught me how I can be a become a better adult learner. 

The most amazing part of the day was being able to present a case to colleagues and get real time feedback on how to improve. 

This teaching course is essential to me specifically as a fellow so that I can improve my skills in teaching residents and medical students. However this course is applicable to anyone at any stage in their career as those in the medical field must be an effective educator to the younger generation of physicians and patients alike.