Medical Educator Model: An integrative platform where doctors learn through teaching
Authors
Dr Carla Borg Caruana, Dr William Slifirski, Dr Stephanie Cheng, Dr Jarryd Ludski. Dr Rachel Rebecca, A/Prof Lou Irving
Background:
The design, administration and delivery of continuing medical education to Australian pre-vocational doctors is difficult due to multiple system-specific and doctor-specific challenges.
A dearth of implemented formal programs exists, with particular disparity across regional networks. Peer-assisted-learning has demonstrated multi-level benefits [1-2], a concept resonating through 90% of surveyed junior medical officers (JMOs), however currently with suboptimal 63% engagement.
Aim:
To establish a standardised model enabling junior doctors to teach medical students, developing their own knowledge and skill set thus improving the accessibility and quality of medical education Victoria-wide.
Summary of work:
The Medical Educator Model is a fully integratable, online platform developed to facilitate engagement of potential medical educators with medical students within health networks, providing structure to existing informal on-the-run teaching.
Educators were able to host lessons on self-identified or student-suggested topics, tailoring method of delivery (face-to-face, online or mixed), mode of delivery (lecture, tutorial, bedside or skills session), and participant numbers through the platform.
Addressed implementation barriers included governance, balancing clinical and academic responsibilities, relevance of content and engagement.
Constructive student evaluations collated after sessions provided relevant, timely feedback informing future education framework development. Teaching resources and expertise was able to be facilitated by courses provided by the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria.
Results:
Successfully piloted at Ballarat Base Hospital in 2020, the platform was established at St Vincent’s Health Melbourne and Monash Health in 2021 with further networks committed for implementation in 2022.
Most recently, Monash Health has resulted in a highly successful 70 JMOs and 90 medical students sign up, resulting in an average of 4 tutorials per week with 96% of students finding tutorials beneficial and 90% wanting tutorials repeated.
Conclusion:
The Medical Educator Model has demonstrably facilitated effective near-peer education as an interactive, engaging platform for both medical student and JMO educator learning.
Citation:
Borg Caruana C, Slifirski W, Cheng S, Ludski J, Rebecca R, Irving L. Medical Educator Model: An integrative platform where doctors learn through teaching [abstract]. In: ANZ Prevocational Medical Education Forum; 2022 November 20-23. Adelaide, Australia. ANZPMEF22-0058.
