gms | German Medical Science

Background: The traditional lecture remains one of the most widely-used instructional methods in medical education. Despite this, faculty development initiatives proposed in medical education literature over the past few decades have mainly targeted clinical education, and have for the most part suggested interventions such as workshops and seminar series. For the majority of healthcare professionals, however, a full-time occupation in the healthcare industry makes lecturing an ancillary activity, and participation in time-consuming training programs difficult to achieve, leaving them with no formal training in this domain.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop an effective and time-efficient consultation method for imparting lecture skills to medical teachers of healthcare professions.

Method: Medical education literature was first analysed to select quality-assessment criteria of effective lecturing. The literature was also perused for factors known to facilitate successful consultations. The results of both of these findings were used to define the content and procedures of a consultation methodology for improving lecture skills.

Results: Three major areas of lecture evaluation were identified in the literature:

1.

The structure and organisation of the lecture;

2.

The active involvement of students and

3.

presentation techniques.

Furthermore, nine methodological components of consultation were defined along with three elements for the qualification of the consultant. These findings resulted in the development of a 10-step consultation method to improve the lecture skills of medical teachers. Five trial runs demonstrated the feasibility and time-efficiency of the method and indicated its effectiveness.

Conclusion: If the effectiveness of the method can be supported by larger-scale studies, it could be an interesting model to support faculty development activities at any institution.