Teaching when Time Is Limited: a Resident and Fellow as Educator Video Module

Research has demonstrated that residents and fellows (hereafter referred to as "residents") play a significant role in the education of medical students. However, residents often feel unprepared to teach effectively and efficiently in busy clinical environments.

The Residents as Educators Committee at the Medical College of Wisconsin sought to create an online module for residents to promote five key elements of teaching medical students in a busy clinical environment when time is limited. The module includes a narrated presentation highlighting key attributes of excellent clinical teachers as well as video clips presenting teaching pearls from award-winning resident educators. All incoming residents during the 2015-2016 academic year were required to view the module and complete a mandatory post-test, representing over 80 specialties and subspecialties.

A total of 325 residents viewed the module and took the required post-test. Of this group, 294 residents (91.4%) completed the optional evaluation. The module was rated highly in terms of content, format, and likelihood to change teaching practices.

The teaching provided by residents is vital to the success of future generations of medical students. The online module developed at the Medical College of Wisconsin may be useful to a larger audience of residents at other institutions. Additionally, further studies could determine the effectiveness of the module by examining the teaching evaluations of residents before and after viewing the module.