Does Faculty Follow the Recommended Structure for a New Classroom-based, Daily Formal Teaching Session for Anesthesia Residents?

BACKGROUND:  A newly implemented 15-minute classroom-based, formal teaching session for anesthesia residents is given three times daily by the same faculty. The faculty member was provided a suggested template for the presentation. The template structure was developed by a group of residents and faculty to include best teaching practices. The goal of the current study was to measure how frequently the faculty teaching these sessions followed the template.

METHODS: From February 20, 2015 to February 6, 2016, a research assistant trained in education mapped a total of 48 teaching sessions to determine how frequently the teaching sessions included each of the elements in the recommended template structure. The assistant was chosen from outside the anesthesia department so as to minimize biases.

RESULTS: It was found that 98% of the sessions used the teaching template's suggestion of using computer slides (e.g., a Powerpoint presentation). We observed that 75% of the sessions provided specific recommendations about patient care, 65% had reinforcement of learning points, 56% had a test or a quiz, 49% provided references and directions for further reading, 44% provided take-home messages, and 31% used a clinical case vignette presentation to introduce the keyword. The most common visuals were the use of a picture (38%) and a chart or a graph (35%). We also saw that 65% of the sessions had active involvement of residents. With respect to time and slide limitations mentioned in the template, we saw that 35% of the sessions finished within the recommended time limit of 15 mins and 21% had the recommended 10 or fewer slides.  Conclusion: Compliance by the faculty to the recommended structure was variable. Despite this, the sessions have been well received and have become a permanent part of the residency curriculum more than two years after their implementation.