Amy Westcott, MD, MHPE, CMD, FAAHPM, AGSF, associate professor of medicine at Penn State University College of Medicine led a two-day Stanford Clinical Teaching Program for Medical Educators at the USF Health Morsani College and Heart Institute.

A group of Tampa Bay area medical educators recently participated in a Stanford Clinical Teaching Program for Medical Educators seminar at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Using didactic presentations, group discussions and practical application exercises, participants are more equipped to set recommendations on how to improve the clinical teaching environments of their institutions.

James Mayer, MD (left) and Andrew Galligan, MD, MS compare notes during a group activity as part of a two day Stanford Clinical Teaching Program for Medical Educators seminar held at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute.

The seminar covered five key areas:

• Defining a learning climate
• Communication goals to learners
• Identifying key approaches to promote understanding and retention
• Describing at least two teaching behaviors
• Recognizing the importance of self-directed learning

The seminar is derived from the program created by the Stanford Faculty Development Center at Stanford University. Seminars embrace the philosophy that teaching improvement programs do not have to be primarily remedial in function.  Alternatively, seminars reflect the belief that teachers of all levels of experience and expertise can benefit from an organized review of their teaching.

From the participants:

“This was such a wonderful event.  We had a diverse group of educators from multiple institutions who were able to bring their experiences and perspectives to the table. I’m hoping this becomes an annual initiative cultivating a cadre of innovative [medical] educators in the Tampa Bay area.” – Milind Kothari, DO, associate dean and vice chair of the MCOM Department of Medical Education.

“The Stanford Course was a great opportunity to sit down with other educators across MCOM’s GME and UME, and discuss best practices to reach learners. I appreciated the self-reflection time on my own style of teaching.” – James Mayer, MD, MCOM clinical curriculum and MD career advising assistant dean.

“This informative hands-on workshop helped in personal goal setting. I honed my knowledge and skills in understanding learning climate, session control, goal communications, and promotion of understanding and retention of clinical topics. This workshop also further enriched my knowledge of evaluation, feedback, and promotion of self-directed learning strategies.” – Rahul Mhaskar, MCOM Office of Research, Innovation and Scholarly Endeavors (RISE) director.

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