Longitudinal Improvement in Public Speaking Skills Through Participation in a Resident Public Speaking Curriculum

To promote public speaking skills, a pediatrics residency program developed a longitudinal public speaking curriculum grounded in deliberate practice and reflective practice.

Residents delivered annual presentations and received formal feedback. Audience evaluation forms from 2005 to 2017 were included for analysis. The form used five-point scales (5 =best) for specific presentation elements (clarity, eye contact/body language, pace, succinct text, minimally distracting delivery, clear conclusion, appropriate learning objectives, achieving learning objectives, and answering questions) and for overall quality. Longitudinal changes in scores were analyzed with paired t tests.

Overall, 5771 evaluations of 276 presentations given by 97 residents were analyzed. Between post-graduate year (PGY)-1 and PGY-3 presentations, mean overall rating increased from 4.38 to 4.59 (P < .001, d=0.51). The median percentage of five-point scores increased from 50.0% (IQR, 24.3%-65.4%) to 72.5% (IQR, 53.3%-81.2%). Eight of nine specific elements showed significant increases (median effect size 0.55). Residents whose initial presentations ranked in the bottom quartile had larger improvements than residents initially ranked in the top quartile.

After pediatric residents participated in a public speaking curriculum with targeted objectives, formal feedback, and repeated practice, their public speaking skills improved. Public speaking curricula can and should be adopted more broadly in graduate medical education.