Internal medicine retreat focuses on teaching skills
June, 2013
Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, Associate Dean for GME, giving a mini-lecture on "Effective Feedback.
Essential teaching skills for internal medicine fellows were the focus of attention at a special workshop retreat initiated by WCMC-Q and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) on April 2 and June 5.
Dr. Abdul-Nasser Elzouki, the general internal medicine fellowship director at HMC, identified a need to advance the teaching skills of the general internal medicine fellows with the goal of actively incorporating them into various teaching activities, both in the undergraduate and the graduate medical education spheres, and approached WCMC-Q for collaboration.
Thirteen fellows, mostly from the Division of General Internal Medicine, participated. WCMC-Q’s assistant professor of medicine and assistant dean for graduate medical education, Dr. Dora Stadler, led the organization of the retreat. The organizing committee also included Dr. Abdul-Nasser Elzouki, Dr. Mai Mahmoud, Dr. Mamoon El-Bedawi, Dr. Thurayya Arayssi and Ms. Deema Al-Sheikhly. They were also the clinicians and staff who taught and facilitated in the retreat.
Dr. Abdul-Nasser Elzouki, Fellowship Director, and
Dr. Abdelrahman Hamad discussing a teaching point.
"This was a great initial opportunity to focus on training the next generation of academic clinicians," Dr. Stadler said."Since the fellows are teaching and evaluating our students and HMC residents, it is vital to focus on mastering these skills, in addition to them being the knowledge experts on the team."
Entitled ‘Essential Teaching Skills’, the retreat addressed some of the most common and practical themes in medical education such as an overview of adult learning theory, creating a successful learning climate, characteristics of effective teaching and effective teachers as well as multiple sessions on giving feedback. The experiences were interactive, hands-on and included activities such as role-play and critique of videotaped teaching sessions.
Evaluation from the fellows was highly positive. Dr. Shireen Suliman, one of the general internal medicine fellows had the opportunity to put her learning into practice almost immediately by teaching the residents.
Dr. Mai Mahmoud, Co-Director of Medicine Clerkship,
observing the role-play between Dr. Abdelrahman Hamad and
Dr. Abazar Ahmed
"I loved the practical session. We are used to learning theory and less practice but the retreat was different," Dr. Suliman said. "The week following the retreat, I presented the management of sodium disorders. I made it in the form of a workshop and applied the steps from the retreat and received great feedback on my teaching skills."
Dr. Elzouki also stressed the importance of emphasis on teaching and feedback skills. "I do recommend it for all young clinicians/fellows who want to start their careers in teaching medicine," he said.
The goal is to expand the current workshop into a continuous curriculum and to develop a teaching elective for the general internal medicine fellows during which they have dedicated time to further cement and reflect on their teaching skills in preparation for their future as academic clinicians.
This retreat was another successful collaborative activity between WCMC-Q and HMC that has resulted in several oral and poster presentations at international conferences and a publication under review.
