Chalk Talks for the Clinical Setting: Evaluation of a Medical Education Workshop for Fellows.

Introduction: Chalk talks are effective teaching tools in the clinical setting. However, data on optimal strategies for teaching medical educators how to develop and deliver them are limited. We designed and implemented two 50-minute workshops to help subspecialty fellows across GME create and deliver a chalk talk. Methods: The first workshop comprised a demonstration of an effective chalk talk and a discussion of best practices for creating chalk talks; the second was a practice session where fellows presented their chalk talks and received feedback from faculty and peers. We evaluated pre- and postworkshop confidence in the ability to create and deliver a chalk talk and develop learning objectives. Secondary outcomes were faculty and peer evaluations of the chalk talks. Results: Eighteen of 33 participants (54% response rate) completed both pre- and postsession surveys. Fellows reported improved confidence in their ability to create a chalk talk (22% vs. 83%, p < .001), deliver a chalk talk (17% vs. 83%, p < .001), and develop well-written learning objectives (11% vs. 83%, p < .001). After the workshop, participants were more likely to correctly identify a chalk talk that made use of an advanced organizer (67% vs. 89%, p < .05). Thirty-eight faculty and peers completed feedback evaluations of participants' chalk talks; most rated fellows' chalk talks highly in domains of content, delivery, design, learning objectives, and engagement. Discussion: The incorporation of these workshop within a course on medical education can effectively develop clinical teaching skills among subspecialty fellows in GME.

Implementation and Outcomes of a Community Assessment Service-Learning Activity Within Academic Learning Communities.

A community needs assessment and engagement activity was implemented in 2013 in the core preclinical curriculum as part of the doctoring course within Academic Communities at UC San Diego School of Medicine. This required educational experience included curricular learning objectives as well as goals to strengthen community service within academic communities. This activity was implemented and sustained within the academic communities with each community serving a different community of San Diego. Survey data from preclinical students from 2014 to 2017 consistently reported that the community assessment activity helped sustain or develop a service project in the academic community (67.1%-79.6% strongly agree or agree) and increased students' knowledge of the needs in the assigned San Diego community (76.3%-80.6% strongly agree or agree). Students felt that the community assessment and engagement activity was a valuable learning experience (62.5%-77.8% strongly agree or agree). As a result of this educational intervention, 14 projects were implemented in the community. A subset of particularly interested and motivated medical students then took on leadership roles in these projects. Student-led scholarly assessment of the impact of some of these interventions resulted in 2 peer-reviewed publications thus far and 9 national presentations at the time of this publication. These assessments demonstrate not only educational impact, but health-system-level changes and meaningful change in patient outcomes.