A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EXPLORING THE EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING OF HMS AFFILIATED ANESTHESIA RESIDENTS THAT FACILITATE DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHING SKILLS

Abstract

Background: The majority of anesthesia teaching and training occurs in a one-on-one manner. Residents are often first-line teachers to medical students and junior trainees from other specialties. While their skills as clinicians are developed through residency, their skills as educators are not always formally developed. Using a phenomenological approach, our study aimed to explore the current status of anesthesia residents' training in teaching skills and to better understand their perceptions of preparedness for teaching medical students and peers. A secondary aim was to explore residents' perceptions of what characteristics make an effective clinical educator and how these characteristics may change as residents progress through training. Methods: Our study was carried out within the anesthesia departments of three Harvard-affiliated hospitals: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Fifteen CA-1 to CA-3 anesthesia residents volunteered to participate. Using a phenomenological approach, open coding was done by two members of the research team which led to the development of a codebook, construction of categories and central themes, and interpretation of the data.

Results: Our main findings showed that anesthesiology residents are often front-line teachers for junior learners who rotate through the specialty. While residents were responsible for teaching medical students and junior residents, little formal teaching training was offered to all residents throughout their residency. Many residents felt comfortable teaching junior learners who were less knowledgeable than themselves, but few residents sought feedback from their learners about their teaching skills. Furthermore, residents defined effective clinical educators as those who know their learners, those who come prepared to teach, and those who provide mentorship to their learners.

Conclusions: Our findings show that anesthesiology residents are currently teaching junior learners in the clinical environment, yet no formal teaching curriculum currently exists to develop their skills as clinical educators. As with clinical skills, teaching skills must be actively developed in order to ensure that residents are trained as effective educators. Anesthesiology residency programs should consider incorporating teaching skills as a core competency throughout residency training.