A video-based teaching resource kit for rural medical teachers

Abstract

Recent and ongoing changes in medical education in Queensland are placing increasing demands on community medical practitioners to teach their successors. Often rural medical teachers have difficulty accessing adequate education, training and support for their teaching roles, largely because of distance. In 1992–93, as part of a year-long project (Price & Miflin, 1994a) we developed a video-based kit, consisting of a 30-minute video and accompanying booklet, to provide a small, but nevertheless more accessible teaching resource for rural and isolated medical teachers. The kit is designed primarily to encourage self-reflection on teaching activities. It can be used independently by rural teachers, but is particularly appropriate as a workshop resource. Although a thorough evaluation of the kit in use in an independent, single-teacher mode has not been completed, we have used much of it in workshops in rural centres, and the response from participants has been very positive. Development and detail of the kit are described in this paper. A further paper (Price & Miflin, 1994b; this issue) details the use of the kit in workshops for rural doctors.