Citations

Significant increase in literature regarding “residents as teachers” highlights the importance of providing opportunities and implementing guidelines for continuing medical education and professional growth. Structured teaching assistant (TA) experiences are not uncommon. Programs, both nationally and internationally, have implemented and continue to provide established opportunities for under‐ and post‐ graduate students to develop teaching skills. However, due to the nature of undergraduate medical curricula, there is neither sufficient time nor an abundance of opportunity for medical students to develop teaching skills. The TA program at Mayo Clinic incorporates learning through apprenticeship and mentoring during a 7‐week anatomy block. This study explores the impact of the TA experience and the effectiveness of its facilitation by faculty mentors. Structured questionnaires obtained feedback regarding improvement in teaching and communication skills, as well as, experiences in curriculum development and educational research. Preliminary data revealed that teaching opportunities, mentoring from course faculty, and exposure to educational research and curriculum development improved the TA's ability to teach and fostered an increased interest in teaching. Medical student TA's perceive learning through apprenticeship and mentoring as an effective way to learn how to teach. Grant Funding Source : Department of Anatomy

Teaching is an increasingly recognized responsibility of the resident physician. Residents, however, often assume teaching responsibilities without adequate preparation. Consequently, many medical schools have implemented student‐as‐teacher (SAT) programs that provide near‐peer teaching opportunities to senior medical students. Near‐peer teaching is widely regarded as an effective teaching modality; however, whether near‐peer teaching experiences in medical school prepare students for the teaching demands of residency is less understood. We explored whether the anatomy‐based SAT program through the Human Structure didactic block at Mayo Medical School addressed the core teaching competencies of a medical educator and prepared its participants for further teaching roles in their medical careers. A web‐based survey was sent to all teaching assistants in the anatomy‐based SAT program over the past five years (2007–2011). Survey questions were constructed based on previously published competencies in seven teaching domains – course development, course organization, teaching execution, student coaching, student assessment, teacher evaluation, and scholarship. Results of the survey indicate that participants in the anatomy‐based SAT program achieved core competencies of a medical educator and felt prepared for the teaching demands of residency. Anat Sci Educ 6: 385–392. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.