A model for developing clinical teaching skills of family practice teachers

The development and implementation of a weekend workshop format for faculty development in family medicine, which has met with some success in the state of Texas, is described. The topic selected for the workshop was one-on-one clinical teaching skills because of its applicability to all levels of involvement of family practice faculty. The weekend format was selected because of its cost efficiency and mobility, which allowed the center to take training to the physicians, and because of its previously demonstrated effectiveness as a format for faculty development in family medicine. A model for clinical teaching was developed to aid workshop participants' easy acquisition of the clinical teaching process through the use of positive transfer of learning from the medical problem solving process, a process well internalized by physicians through medical practice and training.