The clinician educator track aims to give interested residents the knowledge and skills to begin their careers as clinician educators. Clinician educator track residents gain an understanding of adult learning principles and techniques for successful teaching. They are able to practice their teaching and improve through feedback from other track residents and faculty mentors. The key elements of the track are Creating Effective Resident Teachers Program, the Pathways in Academic Medicine program, and the medical education elective. In addition, track residents meet quarterly to discuss teaching and coordinate teaching opportunities. Interested residents begin the track in the Spring of their PGY1 year.
Creating Effective Resident Teachers (CERT)
CERT programing includes monthly seminars on practical teaching skills.
- Teaching while admitting
- Teaching the physical exam
- Teaching procedures
- Setting expectations
- Learning climate
- Teaching your MS3
- Faculty panel discussion
- Dysfunctional teams and learners
- Practice teaching sessions
- Giving feedback
- Resident as team leader
- Five microskills (One Minute Preceptor)
- Giving a chalk talk
- Teaching clinical reasoning
- The cognitive science of learning
- Giving an effective lecture
Pathways in Academic Medicine
Pathways in Academic Medicine programming explores the various options for careers in academic medicine. Through Pathways, residents will discover the concepts and resources needed to jump start an academic career.
Annual Retreat
- Careers in academic medicine
- Private practice v academic medicine
- Finding your niche
- Faculty Panel Discussion: Advice from Academic/Private Practice Junior Faculty
Monthly Seminar Topics
- Finding and utilizing mentors
- Clinician Educator job options
- Finding an academic job
- Scholarship as a clinician educator
- Strengthening your CV
- Junior faculty panel discussion
Medical Education Elective
Clinician educator track residents take the medical education elective in March of their PGY2 or PGY3 year. The month is designed around David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model. We begin the month with readings and discussion of adult learning principles, the cognitive science of learning, and the components of effective teaching. We then transition into discussion of the practical application of these principles and the residents perform practice teaching exercises. All practice teaching sessions are observed by faculty and feedback is given.
Foundational Topics
- Kolb’s Learning Cycle
- Principles of Adult Learning
- How Learning Works
- Learning Styles
- Motivating Your Learners
- Cognitive Science of Learning
- Planning a Curriculum
Practical Application
- Small Group Teaching
- 5 Micro-skills of Clinical Teaching
- Leading Ward Attending Rounds
- Giving Feedback
- Giving a Lecture
- Giving a Chalk Talk
Observation & Reflection
- Ward attending rounds
- Noon conference lectures
Teaching Practice Sessions
- Teach IM clerkship students
- Teach a cognitive science chapter
- Teach a chalk talk
- Teach a CERT session
Director
Starr Steinhilber, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, General Internal Medicine
ssteinhilber@uabmc.edu