Andy Fine
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Department of General Internal Medicine
Clinician educator
7720 S Broadway G30, Littleton, CO 80122
Email: af34784@yahoo.com
Office: 303-703-8583, home: 303-388-4500, cell: 303-913-2758
Defining, developing, and evaluating coaching methods to teach communication skills in the UCSOM Foundations of Doctoring curriculum
a. What is the central question, issue, or problem you plan to explore in your proposed work?
The central problem this work aims to address is: how do we improve faculty development among coaches for first and second year medical students in the Communications component of the Foundations of Doctoring curriculum? The Communications component consists of medical students interviewing standardized patients, with the intention of the student learning, in a safe, non-threatening environment, basic and advanced clinical interviewing skills.
b. Why is your central question, issue, or problem important, to you and to others who might benefit from or build on your findings?
This is important to me because the program to date has not done any formalized “teaching of the teachers”. I believe that the students will become better clinicians, and more quickly, if they have faculty who are coaching them that have a better defined set of expectations, skill sets, and formalized training in ways of delivering feedback.
Others might benefit from this project by incorporating our new methods into their communications curriculum for medical students.
c. How do you plan to conduct your investigation?
Plan to conduct the investigation by video and direct observation of the coaches, with real time feedback and/or feedback after each session. We will try to figure out what specific challenges the coach faced in the student encounter, how the session might have gone if different approaches were made, and ask the coach if there are any resources, or suggestions, they may have or need for continued improvement of the process of coaching.
What sources of evidence do you plan to examine?
Observational/ video, and pre- and post encounter evaluations to the coaches and students that ask whether they think the coaches skills or confidence in teaching has improved thru going thru some faculty assessment exercises.
What methods might you employ to gather and make sense of this evidence?
Video review of CAPE sessions of student /coach encounters
d. How might you make your work available to others in ways that facilitate scholarly critique and review, and that contribute to thought and practice beyond the local?
publish it, present it at the school of medicine for incorporation into the formal curriculum, with a poster/presentation at an academic faculty development meeting, and/or send it out on faculty development listserves among medical schools
e. Include a literature review of the theory and effective teaching practice of the subject of your inquiry in order to locate your research in the literature preceding it.
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2002/05000/Curriculum_in_Physician_Patient_Communication.35.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2004/06000/Teaching_Communication_in_Clinical_Clerkships_.5.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2000/12000/Faculty_Development_in_Communication_Skills.22.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2006/05000/Using_an_Outcomes_Logic_Model_Approach_to_Evaluate.15.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2003/02000/Bringing_Faculty_Development_to_Community_based.9.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2001/08000/Lessons_Learned_from_a_Distance_based_Consulting.7.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2001/04001/What_Did_We_Learn_about_the_Impact_on.15.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2000/02000/Educating_Future_Physicians_for_Ontario__Phase_II.5.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2005/01000/Invite,_Listen,_and_Summarize__A_Patient_Centered.8.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2005/02000/Teaching_Inpatient_Communication_Skills_to_Medical.2.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2000/07001/Communication_Skills_for_Preventive_Interventions.7.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2004/06000/Assessing_Competence_in_Communication_and.2.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/2009/10001/Predicting_Failing_Performance_on_a_Standardized.26.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2000/10001/Communication_Skills_in_Medical_School__Exposure,.29.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2009/08000/Commentary__The_Work_of_Nonphysician_Medical.7.aspx
http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/2010/06000/Transferring_Clinical_Communication_Skills_From.34.aspx
f. What is your record of innovation in teaching and/or the assessment of learning?
Developing and giving workshops and currently preparing an online module for Faculty Mentoring thru the Academy of Medical Educators at the UCHSC School of Medicine
g. Are you able to attend the required meetings as specified the sections titled, “What are the Benefits?” and “What commitments are expected of participants?”
Yes.
h. Can you suggest an appropriate coach/mentor for your project?
Robin Michaels
i. If your project is selected, are you willing to serve as a coach in PTLC in a future year?
Yes.
Thru this PTLC program, I hope to get better ideas on how to more effectively refine, and successfully complete, my first research project, which is designed to help us make the Foundations of Doctoring curriculum more robust with respect to faculty development. I have been a practicing primary care clinician for years and only recently have begun to understand the connection between the importance of evidence-based, standardized educational methods and the quality of the physician produced by that educational system.
In discussions with Dennis Boyle and Wendy Madigosky, who direct the program, we have thought of more clearly defining and assessing the roles and responsibilities of our coaches doing observational evaluations of medical student- standardized patient interviews, yet to date have not had the time or resources.
We intend to help us define, develop, and evaluate coaching methods to teach communication skills to our first and second year medical students.
We plan on asking the following questions:
What tools/methods do we use for faculty development of our coaches?
What ongoing feedback do we give?
How do we best evaluate faculty performance?
Answering these questions will help us to address an area of our program that will support the scholarship of teaching and learning of the communication skills so integral to our medical students.
