Beyond the Workshop: Results From a Longitudinal, Interprofessional Teaching Certificate Program

Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development (10/03/23) Winn, Ariel S.; Huth, Kathleen; Leichtner, Alan M.; et al.

An interprofessional, hospital-based teaching certificate program based on experiential learning and reflective practice sought to incorporate new knowledge into the teaching practice of healthcare professionals with little to no formal education training. In the program, participants attended 10 professional development seminars, including six concentrating on adult learning principles, active learning, feedback, critical thinking, supervision and instructional design. The four remaining seminars asked participants to choose sessions that fulfill their learning needs from the hospital's academy of educators' professional development series. Each participant then underwent three tailored learning experiences with structured reflection, debriefing and coaching. The study authors modeled the program's curriculum to highlight concrete experiences, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. They administered a cross-sectional survey to the 2017-2019 teaching certificate cohort, which included 10 physicians, six nurses, one dentist, one pharmacist, one occupational therapist and one radiologic technologist. Among the respondents, 87% said they felt connected to a community of educators. Sixty-seven percent reported forming an educational alliance with program participants, including with their educational coach, master teacher, peer observer, a fellow teaching certificate member and a teaching certificate program director. Participants said they gained further understanding of their teaching roles and those of other interprofessional clinical team members. Most participants also said they learned teaching strategies or approaches from certificate members outside of their own occupation. All of the participants said they would recommend the program to colleagues. The submitted and scored participant reflections also all mentioned a new teaching concept, skill or behavior they learned from the program, and most also detailed applying this knowledge to teaching. "We aim to scale our program locally, with the goal to require teaching certificate participation for all new healthcare professional educators," the study authors note. They also recommend that other academic medical centers deploy similar programs "to ensure that those who educate future healthcare professionals meet teaching standards as well as professional and interprofessional competencies."

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