The development of an Education Grand Rounds program at an academic health center

Melissa S Medina,Valerie N Williams,Laura R Fentem

doi:10.5116/ijme.4be3.e46e

Abstract

Objectives: Faculty in the health professions need to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and faculty development of teaching can help them achieve this expectation. While there are several development options, the utility of an Education Grand Rounds was explored. The objectives were to coordinate eight yearly sessions focused on six topic priorities, involve our main and distant campus and national presenters, deliver live sessions to the main and distant campus and video-capture sessions, and dedicate session time to active learning. Methods: Education Grand Rounds was developed by faculty and administrative representatives from all six colleges on our two campuses and made available to all faculty at our academic health sciences center. Six sessions topics were prioritized: didactic and clinical teaching, education research, assessment/evaluation, education administration, and instructional technology. Results: Over five years, eight active learning sessions a year were delivered to the main and distant campuses emphasizing six prioritized teaching areas, included local and national presenters, with sixteen sessions videocaptured. On average monthly attendance was nineteen from the main and three from the distant campuses, representing five of six disciplines. The majority of attendees reported above/significantly above average satisfaction with the sessions. Conclusions: Education Grand Rounds is a sustainable form of faculty development for health sciences center faculty located on two campuses. Future directions should assess the impact of topic sequencing presented in multiple modalities, synchronous versus asynchronous participation, and the types of active learning used on participants’ teaching improvement and change as a result of the ses

Highlights

The concept of medical grand rounds emerged as a teaching exercise for physicians using a lecture based presentation with objectives about a medical topic intended to educate participants, showcase faculty role models and promote collegiality.[8]
This structure met our initial goals and medical grand rounds was explored as a means for faculty development at our Academic Health Center (AHC) for clinical and basic science faculty
Offering faculty development at an AHC, where effective teaching is extremely important, is complex due to the multiple disciplines present. This structure offered appeal since medical grand rounds are commonly offered on a monthly basis in many university hospital settings[8] and in other healthcare

Summary

Introduction

Training clinical and basic science healthcare educators in teaching skills is important because faculty are expected to teach effectively, the amount of formal training in teaching or assessment methods faculty receive prior to their first academic appointment is variable.[1,2,3] Doctoral education emphasizes research and medical education emphasizes clinical skills, faculty development in teaching skills is needed to emphasize principles of effective teaching and promotion of student learning.[4,5] Participation in faculty development programs to enhance these skills promotes desirable teaching behaviors.[1,6] Despite the need for faculty development programs of this type, many programs are only offered sporadically.[7]. The concept of medical grand rounds emerged as a teaching exercise for physicians using a lecture based presentation with objectives about a medical topic intended to educate participants, showcase faculty role models and promote collegiality.[8] This structure met our initial goals and medical grand rounds was explored as a means for faculty development at our Academic Health Center (AHC) for clinical and basic science faculty. Offering faculty development at an AHC, where effective teaching is extremely important, is complex due to the multiple disciplines present. This structure offered appeal since medical grand rounds are commonly offered on a monthly basis in many university hospital settings[8] and in other healthcare

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion