Teaching skill improvement for graduate medical trainees. An agenda for research and development

The medical education literature concerned with the teaching role fulfilled by house officers was reviewed by the authors. Articles were presented in three categories: (1) studies of house officer effort, (2) perceptions of the house officer's teaching role, and (3) assessing and improving house officer teaching skills. House officers are involved in a large amount of teaching, greatly influence students, and fulfill a unique teaching role in medical education that is complementary to the faculty teaching role. An agenda for research and development in the area of research teaching skills was proposed based on three broad research questions: (1) What types of teaching skills are most appropriate for residents? (2) How do faculty and student expectations of resident teaching influence resident teaching? (3) What type of intervention is most successful in improving resident teaching skills?