Objective: Standardized Medical Students1 have been developed within an institutionalized faculty development program to provide highly structured teacher training opportunities for junior faculty. The standardized students work with Fellows in the Scholars for Teaching Excellence (STE) program at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.2 The standardized student program has been supported by a comprehensive grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and is described below in terms of scripts, teaching and feedback.
Description: STE Fellows "teach" standardized medical students in realistic, simulated encounters. Scripted teaching situations are intended to reflect a wide variety of problems and issues common to teaching and which are particularly difficult for junior faculty commonly inexperienced in teaching skills. Over 25 scripts have been outlined. Several scripts emphasize the improvement of questioning skills while others are context specific such as "the student who does not possess enough basic science material to apply to clinical situations", "the confabulating student", or "the overzealous resident". A group script prepares faculty to recognize and manage a variety of student dynamics in small group settings. This single script can be modified to mimic PBL settings, morning report, lab discussions and other small group activities. Scripts are intended for multiple use at several levels. Individual scripts can be modified to emphasize differences in learner age, gender, culture, ethnicity, setting (ambulatory or inpatient), and experience level (M1 - PG3) depending on its focus.
Participants engage the standardized medical student during 10-15 minutes of a scripted teaching encounter. These fully scripted sessions allow the faculty person to experience a variety of teaching encounters in a open and non-threatening environment. Behavioral change is emphasized, not evaluation. STE Fellows are video taped, provided with feedback and participate in reflective group discussions. In subsequent faculty development sessions they practice and improve the skill and knowledge area covered by the standardized teaching encounter previously experienced.
Later groups of five to six STE Fellows, each of whom has "taught" the identical standardized medical student, jointly review their videotapes. During the review sessions the STE Fellows are joined by the standardized medical student who provides commentary regarding his/her persona and behaviors. This peer group and the faculty development coordinator rate each teaching encounter from the videotape using specifically designed instruments.
Discussion: Because faculty teach different standardized students behaving in an identical script we are able to observe faculty teaching improvement over time. Such intensive faculty development is possible because it fits completely within the STE program -- a longitudinal, institutionalized faculty development program. STE Fellows are followed through the matrix of cases. Peers and expert outside reviewers and the faculty development coordinator each rate every standardized medical student teaching encounter. These are to be compared with several clinical faculty control groups. Individual changes and overall group growth are monitored. Some STE Fellows intend to use videotapes and ratings for their teaching portfolio for promotion and tenure. Feedback to date, on the standardized medical student program indicates excitement and praise for the program. Inquiries: Mark H. Gelula, PhD, Department of Medical Education (M/C 591), University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, 808 S. Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60612-7309; email: <mgelula@uic.edu>.
1 Lesky, L, Wilkerson L. Using "standardized students" to teach a learner-centered approach to ambulatory precepting. Acad Med. 1994; 69:955-957.
2 Gelula, MH. Scholars for Teaching Excellence: Institutionalized Faculty Development. Acad Med. 1997; 72:459.