How to teach procedures in the Emergency Department

Posted by Michelle Lin, MD on

As I was going through the free EM-RAP Educator’s Edition podcasts, somehow missed the March 2010 podcast on how to teach procedures in the Emergency Department. In the 36-minute podcast, Dr. Mak Moayedi (Univ of Maryland) discusses a framework to teaching procedures. Check it out.

More specifically, Dr. Moayedi talks about how teaching procedures has moved beyond the antiquated “see one, do one, teach one” philosophy. Instead, we should follow principles based on accepted adult learning theories.

Ideal step-wise approach to teaching a procedure:

  • Preparation (Prepare the learner, patient, and environment)
  • Conceptualization (review indications and anatomy)
  • Visualization (show procedure video in its entireity without interruption and repeated with your intermittent commentaries)
  • Verbalization (have learner vocalize all the steps)
  • Guided, supervised practice
  • Give immediate and specific post-procedure feedback

Pitfalls

  • Avoid extraneous, distracting teaching points when teaching a procedure. This dilutes the key learning objectives.
  • When teaching the novice learner a procedure, teach the standard, basic approach. Avoid teaching nuances in the technique, because this may also dilute the teaching message.

Author information

ALiEM Founder and CEO
Professor and Digital Innovation Lab Director
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

The post How to teach procedures in the Emergency Department appeared first on ALiEM.


Go to full site