6 research outputs found
A Pediatric Preintern Boot Camp: Program Development and Evaluation Informed by a Conceptual Framework
Recruiting and retaining community-based preceptors: a multicenter qualitative action study of pediatric preceptors.
PURPOSE: The recruitment and retention of community preceptors to teach medical students is difficult. The authors sought to characterize the underlying motivational factors for becoming a preceptor and to identify strategies for recruiting and retaining community-based pediatric preceptors.
METHOD: This multicenter qualitative action study included semistructured interviews with community-based pediatric preceptors affiliated with 12 institutions from August to December 2015. Only active preceptors were included, and participating institutions were diverse with respect to geographic location and class size. Interviews were conducted over the telephone and transcribed verbatim. Six investigators used deidentified transcripts to develop a codebook. Through a constant comparative method, codes were revised as data were analyzed and disagreements were resolved through discussion. All investigators organized the themes into dimensions.
RESULTS: Fifty-one preceptors were interviewed. Forty-one themes coalesced into four dimensions: (1) least liked aspects of teaching, (2) preparation to teach, (3) inspiration to teach, and (4) ways to improve recruitment and retention. Time constraints and patient care demands were the most commonly cited deterrents to teaching. Successful preceptors balanced their clinical demands with their desire to teach using creative scheduling. External rewards (e.g., recognition, continuing medical education credit) served as incentives. Internal motivation inspired participants to share their enthusiasm for pediatrics and to develop longitudinal relationships with their learners.
CONCLUSIONS: Changes in health care delivery have imposed more time constraints on community-based preceptors. However, this study identified underlying factors motivating physicians to volunteer as preceptors. Strategies to recruit new and retain current preceptors must be collaborative
The Decline in Community Preceptor Teaching Activity: Exploring the Perspectives of Pediatricians Who No Longer Teach Medical Students.
PURPOSE: Difficulty in recruiting and retaining community preceptors for medical student education has been described in the literature. Yet little, if any, information is known about community outpatient preceptors who have stopped or decreased teaching time with students. This study aimed to examine these preceptors\u27 perspectives about this phenomenon.
METHOD: Using a phenomenology framework, this multi-institutional qualitative study used semistructured interviews with community pediatric preceptors who had stopped or reduced teaching time with medical students. Interviews were conducted between October 2017 and January 2018 and transcribed verbatim. Interviews explored factors for engaging in teaching, or decreasing or ceasing teaching, that would enable future teaching. An initial code book was developed and refined as data were analyzed to generate themes.
RESULTS: Twenty-seven community pediatricians affiliated with 10 institutions participated. Thirty-seven codes resulted in 4 organizing themes: evolution of health care, personal barriers, educational system, and ideal situations to recruit and retain preceptors, each with subthemes.
CONCLUSIONS: From the viewpoints of physicians who had decreased or stopped teaching students, this study more deeply explores previously described reasons contributing to the decline of community preceptors, adds newly described barriers, and offers strategies to help counter this phenomenon based on preceptors\u27 perceptions. These findings appear to be manifestations of deeper issues including the professional identify of clinical educators. Understanding the barriers and strategies and how they relate to preceptors themselves should better inform education leaders to more effectively halt the decline of community precepting and enhance the clinical precepting environment for medical students
What Do Pediatric Subinterns Say About Their Learning and Assessment? A Qualitative Analysis of Individual Learning Plans.
OBJECTIVE: To perform a qualitative content analysis of learning and assessment strategies that pediatric sub-interns describe in Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) and to explore barriers and facilitators to their learning. METHODS: We analyzed ILPs from medical students enrolled in pediatric sub-internships at 10 U.S. medical schools that utilized a standardized curriculum and were recruited to reflect diversity in geographic location, funding, and enrollment. Students used an ILP to record three or more selected learning objectives, rationale for selection, and reflection on learning and assessment strategies. Investigators used the constant comparative method to perform a content analysis of the ILPs, grouping codes into themes, and verifying relationships between codes within themes. RESULTS: 204 ILPs that included student reflections on 850 learning objectives were analyzed. Content was analyzed in five categories: rationale for selecting objectives, learning strategies, assessment strategies, challenges to learning, and facilitators of learning. Students showed strong commitment to individualized, self-directed learning, developed a wide range of creative learning strategies, and relied heavily on self-reflection to assess their progress. The learning environment both helped and hindered students\u27 ability to make and assess progress on their selected learning objectives. CONCLUSIONS: Through ILP-guided reflection and a formal curriculum, students can choose well-justified learning objectives and demonstrate resourcefulness and independence in developing self-directed learning and assessments strategies. The strategies that students identified in this study provide a menu of learning and assessment options for sub-interns. Identified challenges and facilitators of learning provide guidance for educators who seek to enhance the clinical learning environment