Teaching the teachers: helping faculty in a family practice residency improve their informatics skills.

Full Abstract

Faculty members in family practice residencies are increasingly being asked to help residents develop skills in the use of informatics and evidence-based medicine (EBM). In order to do this successfully the teachers themselves must be skilled in the use of these tools. Recognizing the need for such training, the Maine Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program designed a faculty development project to increase knowledge and skills in the use of information technology. This project, which was carried out in 1999-2001, utilized a multifaceted approach that included improving the residency's technology infrastructure, conducting two instructional workshops, and offering EBM mentoring for preceptors. Faculty members also designed and carried out independent informatics projects. Pre- and post-project assessments of faculty members demonstrated a significant improvement in computer and EBM skills, and informal feedback from residents indicates that these skills have been successfully applied to the faculty members' teaching of residents and their practice of family medicine. This project had a positive impact on the faculty members in the residency program, increasing both their ability to employ information technology in individual and group teaching sessions and their use of EBM in clinical practice. Also, the culture within the residency program has been changed to one of utilizing computers and the Internet as principal resources for up-to-date information.

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Author information

Author/s: Cartwright, Cynthia A (CA); Korsen, Neil (N); Urbach, Lynn E (LE);

Affiliation: Residency Program, Maine Medical Center Family Practice Center, Portland, 04101, USA. cartwc(-atsign-)mmc.org

Grants: 1 D45PE 50174-01 (Agency:BHP HRSA HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges (Acad Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-May; vol 77 (issue 5) : pp 385-91

Dates: Created 2002/05/15; Completed 2002/06/07; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12010692, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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