This week’s How I Educate post features Dr. Andy Little, the Associate Program Director at AdventHealth Florida in Orlando. Dr. Little spends approximately 90% of his shifts with learners, including emergency medicine residents, off-service residents, and medical students. He describes his practice environment as a busy community EM residency program that sees over 100,000 patients per year. Below he shares with us his approach to teaching learners on shift.
Name 3 words that describe a teaching shift with you.
Malleable, understanding, fun.
What delivery methods do use when teaching on shift?
Post its and fill in the blanks.
What learning theory best describes your approach to teaching?
Experiential.
What is one thing (if nothing else) that you hope to instill in those you teach?
That there is always something you can learn from your patient.
How do you balance your flow with on-shift teaching? Does this come at the expense of your documentation?
There is a time to teach and a time to see patients. When we don’t have a specific topic to discuss, we see patients and focus on specific parts of the history and physical one cannot miss for that complaint. It comes at some sacrifice to charting, but that’s the gig.
What is your method for reviewing learners’ notes and how do you provide feedback on documentation?
I do a mix of on-shift and after-shift notes reviews. I focus on finding trends about how learners chart, and give feedback accordingly.
Do you feel departmental flow and metrics adversely affect teaching? What is your approach to excelling at both?
It can be difficult to sit back and let senior learners struggle what is your approach to not taking over prematurely?
Do you start a teaching shift with certain objectives or develop them as a shift unfolds?
Do you typically see patients before or after they are presented to you?
How do you boost morale amongst learners on shift?
How do you provide learners feedback?
What tips would you give a resident or student to excel on their shift?
Are there any resources you use regularly with learners to educate during a shift?
What are your three favorite topics to teach during a shift?
What techniques do you employ when teaching on shift?
What is your favorite book or article on teaching?
Who are three other educators you’d like to answer these questions?
Read other How I Educate posts for more tips on how to approach on-shift teaching.
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