Comparison of pediatric resident and faculty learning styles: implications for medical education

This article compares resident and faculty learning strategies and styles and considers implications for teaching. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory was administered to 17 pediatric residents and 22 faculty in a pediatric department of an urban university-affiliated public medical center in 1991. Four scales--concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualization (AC), and active experimentation (AE)--are derived from self-ranking groups of words. Combining strategies leads to one of four styles: accommodator, diverger, converger, or assimilator. Analysis of variance and chi-square statistics were used to analyze strongest strategies and styles and to compare groups. It was found that resident and faculty preferred learning strategies and styles were significantly different. Resident strategies were spread primarily between concrete experience (40.5%) and active experimentation (40.5%), whereas faculty clearly preferred abstract conceptualization (77%). Most residents had either an accommodator or diverger learning style (81%), whereas most faculty were either assimilators or convergers (73%). This knowledge of learning strategy preferences and styles may have implications for design and delivery of instruction to residents.     

Resident and faculty perceptions of effective clinical teaching in family practice

Increasing interest in clinical teaching has led to the realization that the unique subset of skills which characterizes effective clinical teaching needs to be identified. Such identification will lead to development of these skills and improvement in the quality of clinical teaching. Family practice faculty are vitally concerned with improving their clinical teaching skills, since clinical teaching is the core of education in family medicine and since many family physicians who become preceptors have had no formal training as teachers. In this investigation of effective clinical teaching behaviors, faculty and residents generally agree in their perceptions of the helpfulness of 58 clinical teaching behaviors. Neither group felt that emphasis on references and research is as important a factor in effective clinical teaching as are residents' active participation in the learning situation and positive preceptor attitudes toward teaching and residents. It was perceived that the ineffective clinical teacher has a negative attitude toward residents, is inaccessible, and lacks skills in providing feedback, while the effective clinical teacher has skills in two-way communication, creates an educational environment that facilitates learning, and provides constructive feedback to residents.     

Animadversion error in student evaluations of faculty teaching effectiveness.

Compared the midterm grades of each of 86 business students to the grade the student gave the professor on his teaching effectiveness. A 1-way analysis of variance showed better than chance correspondence (h2 = .23). This tendency was entitled the animadversion error, and its importance in subordinate-supervisor ratings is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An overview of the uses of standardized patients for teaching and evaluating clinical skills. AAMC

The author defines the term standardized patient (SP), the umbrella term for both a simulated patient (a well person trained to simulate a patient's illness in a standardized way) and an actual patient (who is trained to present his or her own illness in a standardized way). He first discusses the many values of simulated patients over actual patients as teaching and assessment tools in the classroom and refutes a few myths about the use of SPs. Then he recounts the origin and development of SPs over a three-decade period, beginning with his work as a neurologist at the Los Angeles County Hospital, where he trained a model from the art department to simulate a neurological patient and assist in the assessment of clinical clerks. He then describes additional roles of SPs that have developed, including: (1) their use in the Clinical Practice Examination created at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and (2) the major use that has come into being over the last 10-15 years; facilitating the comprehensive assessment of clinical competence using multiple stations in examinations such as the objective structured clinical examination. He concludes with information about recent and current work on SPs, who are becoming more and more accepted in the assessment process, and urges skeptics not to make judgments about the value of SPs until they have experienced the technique firsthand and reviewed the literature concerning the extensive and often high-quality research about this assessment tool.     

A curriculum for teaching faculty budgeting and financial management skills

BACKGROUND: As funding sources diminish, it is critical for faculty members in primary care residency programs to better utilize available resources. The curriculum presented here, a practice management course for academicians, can provide fellows and new faculty with some of the budgeting and financial management skills necessary to perform in an academic environment. METHODS: The curriculum described is a 6-hour seminar series that relates essential budgeting and financial management concepts with academic practice. RESULTS: Pre- and postassessments displayed a statistically significant increase in the learner's fund of knowledge. One year after instruction, six of seven participants had used an aspect of the curriculum. All seven recommended its continuation. CONCLUSION: This curriculum should be considered for implementation in all fellowship programs that train future faculty.     

Research and teaching in medical education

A list of citations of scientific papers of Brazilian researchers published from 1981 to 1993 and prepared by Institute for Scientific Information identified almost 8000 titles; 37.4% of this total number include medical area subjects publications. The author analyses also the relevant importance of teaching activities in medical education process, specially with reference to ethical aspects included in it.     

Engaging depressed patients in psychotherapy: Integrating techniques from motivational interviewing and ethnographic interviewing to improve treatment participation.

Treatment dropouts and high "no show" rates are vexing problems for practicing psychologists and the populations they serve. This article describes a one-session intervention based on principles derived from motivational interviewing and ethnographic interviewing designed to improve depressed patients' participation in subsequent psychiatric treatment. The authors explain the rationale for developing an engagement intervention, describe the intervention itself, and present case vignettes based on a pilot study evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of administering the intervention to depressed mothers whose children suffer from psychiatric illness. The article includes strategies that may be implemented in clinical practice to improve patients' participation in treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of MMPI scores of White and Japanese-American medical patients.

Compared the MMPI scores of 164 patients (mean age 40.3 yrs) classified by sex, diagnostic group (somatization disorder or organic brain syndrome), and race (White or Japanese-American). MANOVA revealed effects for sex and diagnostic group, as well as a sex by race interaction. Male Ss scored significantly higher than females on 9 clinical scales; thus, factors other than race (e.g., sex) appear to be critical in the interpretation of MMPI scores. Implications for the use of the MMPI with non-White patients are discussed. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived importance of clinical teaching characteristics for nurse anesthesia clinical faculty

Cancer-related, mucin-type carbohydrate epitopes, principally mannose and sialo-syl residues, are expressed on the envelope protein gp 160 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Anticarbohydrate antibodies directed toward these and other carbohydrate epitopes are known to neutralize HIV-1 infection by cell-free virus. Carbohydrates, however, being T cell-independent antigens, typically elicit diminished immune responses. To overcome this potential draw back, we have examined the ability of peptides that mimic such epitopes to elicit immune responses that cross-react with carbohydrate structures. We report that mouse polyclonal antisera generated against peptides that mimic mucin-related carbohydrate epitopes have anti-HIV-1 activity. Generation of antibodies was not lr-gene restricted, as at least two different strains of mice. Balb/c (H-2d) and C57Bl/6 (H-2b), responded equally to the peptides. The antipeptide sera displayed neutralizing activity against HIV-I/MN and HIV-I/3B viral strains. This neutralization was as good as human anti-HIV sera. These results indicate that peptide mimics of carbohydrates provide a novel strategy for the further development of reagents that elicit immune responses to carbohydrate epitopes associated with many infectious organisms and tumor cells.     

A critical experiential teaching strategy: student and faculty participation in an AIDS walk

The authors report their experience in the placement of a new Nitinol stent. Thirty eight stents were placed in 28 iliac arteries, 3 superficial femoral arteries, 1 popliteal artery, 2 subclavian arteries, and 2 veins of hemodialysis fistulae. The primary success rate was 100%, but several angioplasty balloons have been ruptured due to the specific configuration of the stent. The mean follow-up period was 6 months. Memotherm placement is an easy procedure, but the specific structure of the device makes the manipulation of the angioplasty balloons delicate, especially in tortuous vessels.     

Development of behaviorally anchored scales for the evaluation of faculty teaching.

Presented a procedure and rationale for evaluating college teaching using behaviorally anchored rating scales. In Stage 1 (n = 38 undergraduates), 9 independent dimensions important for teaching evaluation and representative behavioral incidents were identified. In Stage 2 (n = 54 undergraduates), incidents were allocated to dimensions. In Stage 3 (n = 139 undergraduates), incidents were evaluated on a scale representing effective teaching. Items with low standard deviations were retained for the final scales. The underlying notions of the resulting scales and the advantages of using the behavioral expectation procedure relative to other procedures are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of family responsibilities and gender to the productivity and career satisfaction of medical faculty

BACKGROUND: Studies have found that female faculty publish less, have slower career progress, and generally have a more difficult time in academic careers than male faculty. The relation of family (dependent) responsibilities to gender and academic productivity is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To describe dependent responsibilities by gender and to identify their relation to the aspirations, goals, rate of progress, academic productivity, and career satisfaction of male and female medical school faculty. DESIGN: 177-item survey questionnaire. SETTING: 24 randomly selected medical schools in the contiguous United States. PARTICIPANTS: 1979 respondents from a probability sample of full-time academic medical school faculty. MEASUREMENTS: The main end point for measuring academic productivity was the total number of publications in refereed journals. Perceived career progress and career satisfaction were assessed by using Likert scales. RESULTS: For both male and female faculty, more than 90% of time devoted to family responsibilities was spent on child care. Among faculty with children, women had greater obstacles to academic careers and less institutional support, including research funding from their institutions (46% compared with 57%; P < 0.001) and secretarial support (0.68 full-time equivalents compared with 0.83 full-time equivalents; P = 0.003), than men. Compared with men with children, women with children had fewer publications (18.3 compared with 29.3; P < 0.001), slower self-perceived career progress (2.6 compared with 3.1; P < 0.001), and lower career satisfaction (5.9 compared with 6.6; P < 0.001). However, no significant differences between the sexes were seen for faculty without children. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with female faculty without children and compared with men, female faculty with children face major obstacles in academic careers. Some of these obstacles can be easily modified (for example, by eliminating after-hours meetings and creating part-time career tracks). Medical schools should address these obstacles and provide support for faculty with children.     

An investigation of the criterion problem for a medical school faculty.

Through interviews, questionnaires, compendium listings, medical college files, and peer evaluations 80 criterion measures of on-the-job performance of 102 full-time college of medicine faculty members were developed and factor analyzed (a) to determine to what degree premedical and medical school grades predicted the criteria obtained, and (b) to explore other characteristics not currently emphasized in medical education. As indicated by the fact that 1 independent index of performance was obtained for approximately every 3 measures of performance included in the analysis, the most important finding was the complexity of the criterion area studied. School grades came out as a factor independent of the factors related to physician performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)