Medical Students, How to Be an Excellent Preceptor and Remain Productive

Preceptor to Clinical Students:

How to be an excellent preceptor and remain productive

Eladio Pereira, MD, FACP

Mariposa Community Health Center

What makes for effective teaching?

•Role modeling

•Enthusiasm

•Respect for adult learners

•Commitment to learning

•Allows learner to make self-assessment

•Caring/sensitivity for learner

Effective Teaching

•Time

•Clarity of what you are teaching

•Creates environment of what you are teaching

•Nurtures

•Gives, frequent specific feedback

An effective preceptor can

•Organize an educational experience

•Interact purposefully with learners

•Motivate learners

Four steps in effective teaching

•Needs assessment

•Teaching

•Feedback and evaluation

•Reinforce the message

Needs Assessment

•Where is the learner now in relation to where the learner needs to be? Knowledge? Skills? Attitude?

•Determine by asking, observing, reviewing reports, presentation, non-verbal communication, clarity of responses and questions

Teaching styles

•To help clinical teachers become more aware of their own interaction and be flexible with multiple styles

Styles

•Assertive

•Suggestive

•Collaborative

•Facilitative

Assertive

•Gives directions

•Asks direct questions

•Gives information

•Asks self-answering questions

•Examples: dosage, characteristics of headache

Suggestive Style

•Suggests alternatives

•Offers opinion

•Relates personal experience

•Summarizes

•Ex: pros and cons of MRI vs. CT

Collaborative

•Elicits and accepts students ideas

•Explores students ideas

•Relates personal experience

•Ex: develop differential for HA, what do you think is going on?

Facilitative

•Elicits and accepts students feelings

•Discloses feelings

•Encourages

•Uses silence: help learner feels comfortable about a pelvic exam and

•delivering bad news

General

•Assertive-reliance on the teacher

•Facilitative-reliance on the learner

Styles

•No one uses one style all the time

•Each of us has a preferred style

•Learning situation may dictate the style

Remember

•Use teacher-centered styles less and learner-centered style more

•Be conscious of your style

•Use alternative styles

•Decrease lecturing

Good feedback

•Encourages self-assessment

•Covers positives and negatives

•Refers to specific, observed behavior

•Is limited and timely

•Occurs in the appropriate place

•Ends with an action plan

Reinforce

•Reviews today’s learning

•Set plan for future learning

Steps

•Needs assessment

•Teaching

•Feedback and evaluation

•Reinforce

Letters of Recommendation

•Introductory paragraph-your qualifications, years in practice, time spent with students, number of students, type of interaction with students

•Body: anecdotes, uses phrases to indicate the strength, fund of knowledge, specific procedural skills, personal integrity

•Conclusion: summary, objective (top 10%), excellent, outstanding

•Waived or not waived, NMRP number

Tips

•Meet with the student the first day and review expectations and objective, both clinical and administrative

•Establish format that is efficient

•Explain format

•Use teaching moments

•Move and teach

Teacher

•Mentor

•Role model

•Change

•Long lasting excellence

•Patient care