Residents-as-teachers: A survey of Canadian specialty programs

Abstract

Introduction: The ability to teach is a critical component of esidency and future practice. This is recognized by the Royal ollege of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, which ncorporates teaching functions into the CanMEDS competencies. he aim of our study was to identify how emergency edicine specialty programs across Canada prepare their esidents for roles as teachers and to compare these results o those of other Royal College specialty programs. ethods: A 40-item English questionnaire was developed nd translated into French. It was e-mailed to the program directors of all Royal College Emergency Medicine (EM), Anesthesia, Diagnostic Radiology, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry residency programs. The survey asked what modalities were in use to teach residents how to teach and allowed respondents to comment on recent changes. Results: Twelve of 13 (92%) EM programs and 78 of 113 (69%) other specialty programs responded. All responding programs incorporated some kind ofmandatory teaching responsibilities. Four of 12 (33%) EM programs reserved formal teaching functions for postgraduate year 3 and above, whereas only 7 of 78 (9%) other specialty programsdid so. The remaining 71 of 78 (91%) non-EM specialty programs incorporated formal teaching functions in all years of residency. Six of 12 (50%) EM programs offered rotations in clinical medical education compared to only 11 of 78 (14%) other specialty programs. Conclusions: Canadian EM programs appear to differ from other specialty programs in the way that they develop residents-as-teachers. Half of EM programs offer rotations in clinical medical education, and many introduce formal teaching functions later in residency. © Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.