Defining curricular priorities for student-as-teacher programs: A National Delphi Study

Abstract

Background: “Student-as-Teacher” (SaT) programs have been growing in number to prepare medical students for their teaching roles in residency and beyond, but it remains unknown what content areas should be covered in SaT curricula.

Aim: To determine five to ten “essential” content areas for inclusion in SaT curricula using expert opinion.

Methods: Using a three-round Delphi process, moderators iteratively surveyed a panel of 28 medical educators (25 academy directors and three individuals identified as having expertise in undergraduate medical education) representing 25 medical schools in the United States. This “SaT Delphi Working Group” was tasked with rating topics for inclusion in SaT curricula on a 3-point scale (i.e. 1. “essential,” 2. “important, but not essential” 3. “not important”). Topics achieving ≥70% consensus as “essential,” “important” or “not important” were accepted by the moderators and removed from subsequent rounds.

Results: Hundred per cent response rate (n = 28) was achieved for all survey rounds. Five content areas reached consensus as “essential” for inclusion in a SaT curriculum: feedback, bedside teaching and clinical precepting, small-group teaching, case-based teaching and professionalism as a medical educator.

Conclusion: This consensus from a group of leaders in medical education is a first step toward the implementation of more developmentally-appropriate SaT competencies.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Holly Gooding, MD, MSc, Richard Schwartzstein, MD, Gordon Harper, MD, Kathleen Huth, MD, Nicholas Thibodeau-Jarry, MD, and Taylor Freret, MEd for their collaborative input and feedback on this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Glossary

• Delphi process: The Delphi process is a consensus methodology in which a pre-selected expert panel is sent iterative surveys typically over a series of two to four rounds in order to reach a pre-defined level of consensus about a pre-specified question.

Notes on contributors

Jasmine Rana is 2017 MD-MMSc Medical Education candidate at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Amy Sullivan, Ed.D, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Co-chair, Academies Collaborative, Director for Research, The Academy at Harvard Medical School, and Director for Education Research, Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.

Molly Brett, MD, is an internal medicine resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.

Amy R. Weinstein, MD, is Director, BIDMC Core I Medicine Clerkship and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Katharyn M. Atkins, MD, is an Associate Director, Shapiro Institute for Education and Research, Director of Undergraduate Medical Education and the Principal Clinical Experience, and Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.

Additional information

Funding

The authors report no external funding.