Preceptor Development

Editor's Note: In this month's column, Sweety Jain, MD, of the Sacred Heart Hospital Family Medicine Residency in Allentown, PA, discusses how office-based teachers can teach learners to interact with and provide compassionate care to patients with disabilities.

Editor's Note: Caring for patients with chronic pain can be difficult for learners and even the most experienced physicians. In this month's column, Heidi Pomm, PhD, of the St. Vincent's Medical Center Family Medicine Residency in Jacksonville, FL, explains important diagnostic and management issues that the office-based teacher should discuss with learners caring for patients with chronic pain. Dr Pomm has written an article of similar content that was published in the Summer 2005 edition of Northeast Florida Medicine, the journal of the Duval, Clay, Nassau, St. John's, and Putnam Medical Societies in Florida. This month's column is published with the written permission of the Duval Medical Society, the copyright holder of Northeast Florida Medicine.

Editor's Note: In this month's column, Sarah Parrott, DO; Alison Dobbie, MD; Heidi Chumley, MD; and James Tysinger, PhD, summarize evidence supporting the efficiency and effectiveness of the well-known five-step microskills model of clinical teaching, also known as the "One-minute Preceptor" model. Drs Parrott, Dobbie, and Chumley are with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, while Dr Tysinger is with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Editor's Note: In this month's column, Hershey Bell, MD, and Stanley Kozakowski, MD, remind office-based teachers of their important role in assessing how well learners achieve different competencies. They also recommend a "gap analysis" approach for helping learners self-assess their level of competency and plan how they will improve. Dr Bell is with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, PA, and Dr Kozakowski is with the Hunterdon Medical Center Family Medicine Residency in Flemington, NJ.

Editor's Note: In this month's column, Oralia Bazaldua, PharmD; Madelyn Pollock, MD; Shelley Roaten, MD; and Alison Dobbie, MD, give practical suggestions on how to teach learners the principles and practice of clinical prescribing. Dr Bazaldua is with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Dr Pollock is with the University of Kansas, and Drs Roaten and Dobbie are with the University of Texas-Southwestern.

Editor’s Note: In this month’s column, Terry Shlimbaum, MD, and Nancy Ruddy, PhD, of the Hunterdon Medical Center Family Residency Program, Flemington, NJ, propose the “A”s and “Ex”s model to help teachers and learners remember important elements in a patient encounter that contribute to both physician and patient satisfaction.

Editor’s Note: In this month’s column, Joette Gracia-Trujillo, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine discusses how office-based teachers can help students and residents learn principles of cross-cultural care during precepting sessions.

Editor’s Note: In this month’s column, Pablo Blasco, MD, PhD; Adriana Roncoletta, MD; Graziela Moreto, MD; Marcelo Levites, MD; and Marco Aurelio Janaudis, MD, of the Brazilian Society of Family Medicine (SOBRAMFA) describe the learning outcomes of a preceptorship program in Brazil that pairs medical students with family physicians. It is unusual for Brazilian medical students to receive this type of opportunity, and their descriptions of what they learned remind us of the contributions that family physicians can make to the education of medical students.

Editor’s Note: In this month’s column, Krupa Shah, MD, MPH, and Tricia Elliott, MD, of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine discuss how to teach learners to conduct a prevention visit. I thank Paul Paulman, MD, of the University of Nebraska for being the guest editor of this month’s column.