Attending rounds: What do the all-star teachers do?

AIM: To examine differences in the types of teaching activities performed during rounds between the most effective and least effective inpatient teaching attendings. METHODS: Participants included 56 attending physicians supervising 279 trainees. Trained observers accompanied teams during rounds and recorded the frequencies of educational activities that occurred. Students and residents then rated their satisfaction with the teaching on rounds. RESULTS: Attending physicians with the highest learner satisfaction scores performed significantly more teaching activities per patient than attending physicians who were rated as average or less-effective (2.1 vs. 1.4 vs. 1.5; p = .03). There were significant differences in the frequencies of 3 out of the 9 specific teaching activities observed, including answering specific patient-care related questions (77% vs. 66% vs. 47%; p = .003), teaching on learner chosen topics (8% vs. 2% vs. 2%; p = .02), and providing feedback (31% vs. 10% vs. 0.1%; p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Specific categories of teaching activities-patient-specific teaching, teaching on learner-identified topics, and providing real-time feedback-are performed more frequently by the highest-rated attending physicians, which can guide faculty development.

Dermatology education and the Internet: traditional and cutting-edge resources.

BACKGROUND: The number and variety of dermatological medical resources available online has grown exponentially over the past decade. Internet-based resources allow for immediate and easy access to information for both medical education and reference purposes. Although clinicians continue to turn to the Internet for clinical information and still images, tech-savvy medical students are currently accessing a variety of exciting new resources, including discussion boards, wikis, streaming video, podcasts, journal clubs, online communities, and interactive diagnostic experiences to augment their medical education. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify traditional and cutting-edge online dermatology resources. METHODS: We present a sampling of the top dermatology Internet resources, as assessed by a group of medical students in our university dermatology research lab. These resources were ranked by using a matrix derived from the Silberg Criteria, which assessed authorship, attribution, disclosure, currency, and content. Results indicate comparable ranking and approval of cutting-edge resources as traditional online sources. The ranked resources in each category are provided with URLs for readers' use. CONCLUSIONS: These cutting-edge online dermatology resources represent excellent sources for continuing education for students and clinicians alike. Resources such as these likely represent the future of medical education, as they allow for self-directed and supplementary education as well as remote access.