Dyad Pedagogy: From the anatomy classroom to the workplace

Abstract

Health care practice is in a state of flux insisting that practitioners be clinically competent in the most complex workplace ever. ACGME cites: insightful clinical reasoning; teamwork; & culturally‐able behaviors ‐‐ as hallmarks of the clinically‐able physician. Workplace imperatives informed the choice of Dyad Pedagogy (DP) in order to integrate affective & psychomotor skills into the cognitive so as to develop workplace behaviors as the students learned anatomy. DP methodology ‐‐arranging students in pairs ‐‐expanded a traditional Anatomy course with interactive problem‐solving activities in a first‐year anatomical science course at the College of Health Related Professions in SUNY Downstate Med Center. Dyad activities were structured within anatomical themes focused on context‐relevant anatomy problem‐solving scenarios. Implementation of DP demonstrated effectiveness in advancing student mastery of anatomical content and its clinical relevancy; success in promoting interpersonal behavior and collaborative problem‐solving skills; and in honing oral presentation techniques. Use of DP energized the classroom as it did the creation of new metrics to assess these objectives. A rigorous assessment confirmed that students’ demonstrated mastery of anatomical knowledge integrated with workplace behaviors. DP optimized the reach of learning beyond the anatomy classroom and into the workplace.