Rural Medical Education (RMED)
About the Course
Rural Medical Education (RMED) is a series of modules that address key topics in medical education. Each module includes a short video, readings, and pre-session activities to be completed prior to meeting online for a facilitated session. Completing the activities and discussing your experiences with other rural medical educators will build your skills and confidence.
Topics Covered
- Welcoming a Learner to Your Practice
- Establishing Expectations for a Learning Experience
- Giving Feedback
- Teaching Clinical Reasoning
- Teaching Procedural Skills
- Social Media and Your Learner
- Writing Effective End-of-Rotation Assessments
- Digital Resources for Clinical Teaching
- Giving Difficult Feedback
Course Format
Delivery: Self-study with online, synchronous discussion
Level: Introductory
Commitment: Modules require one-hour of pre-session activity culminating in one-hour of small-group discussion. Participants can register for single modules or the entire series of 10.
Facilitators
Some of the experienced clinical educators who facilitate our sessions include: Jill Konkin, Sudha Koppula, Ron Damant, Peter Hamilton. See their bios below.
The RMED Syllabus
Module 1: Welcoming a Learner to Your Practice
Participants practice creating personalized checklists to help welcome new learners to their practice.Upon completion of this module, participants will be able to:
- describe the important aspects of orienting a learner to a practice and community
- develop a checklist to welcome a new learner to a practice
Participants will practice establishing expectations for a learning experience by developing an educational contract.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- describe the purpose of an educational contract between learner and preceptor.
- apply the RESSTAR model of establishing a teaching relationship with a learner.
- practice creating an explicit educational contract with their learner
Participants will practice giving feedback with one or more students using the One-Minute preceptor strategy. Participants will then share their experiences in the larger group of peers in the online session.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- give feedback using a set model
- describe other models of giving feedback
Participants will reflect on several scenarios and determine a course of action.Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
- apply a framework to identify and categorize the difficulties experienced by a learner
- describe the considerations for intervention and remediation
Participants will practice clinical reasoning with a student using the Think Aloud strategy. They will then share their experiences with a small group of rural preceptors and discuss strategies for guiding learners to mindful use of this strategy in order to build their clinical reasoning skills.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- practice "thinking aloud" by describing your clinical reasoning to your learner
- guide learners in developing their clinical reasoning skills, moving them from Reporters to Interpreters
- guide learners in developing pertinent "illness scripts"
For this module learners will practice unpacking their own set of "microskills" that are required to perform a clinical procedure and share their experiences in the larger group,discussing strategies for guiding learners in developing their own set of skills in order to perform effective clinical procedures.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- describe the common mistakes, challenges, and critical steps in being successful with a clinical pro
This module will discuss using social media in clinical practice, focusing on the positives, the negatives and any potential pitfalls which may arise. Discussion will focus on specific scenarios and the creation of strategies for guiding learners in navigating social media as a clinical professional. This module is delivered in two parts: Pre-session Work and in an Online F2F Session. The online session will be offered Tuesday, March 7th at 0730 hr, and repeated on Wednesday, March 8th at 1930 hr. Participants will be emailed a link to the session in which they have registered one day prior to the event.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- discuss social media "rules of engagement" as they apply to physicians.
- anticipate and mitigate social media missteps and pitfalls
- discuss reasons for engaging in social media
In this module participants will practice writing rich and descriptive statements to be included in a summative assessment for Rural Family Medicine. Participants will then share their examples in the larger group and discuss the rationale and process by which effective narrative summative assessments are created.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- discuss the rationale for writing descriptive statements for summative assessment
- practice writing examples of descriptive assessment statements
In this module, discussion will focus on the digital resources that are available to clinical teachers. There is an opportunity for participants to share experiences in the larger group and discuss strategies for assessing new digital resources for validity and usability.Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:
- locate digital resources for clinical teaching
- evaluate digital resources for evidence-based reliability
In this module, participants will reflect on several scenarios on delivering difficult feedback, and determine courses of action. This module is delivered in two parts: Pre-session Work and in an Online F2F Session. Participants will be emailed a link to the session in which they have registered one day prior to the event.Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
Facilitator Bios
- plan and prepare yourself to manage feedback in difficult situations during clinical teaching encounters
- deliver feedback in difficult situations during clinical teaching encounters