Clinical teacher program

The Clinical Teacher Program aims to create a culture of academic excellence by cultivating professional and personal development in clinical faculty by:

• Developing and enhancing clinical teaching, assessment and feedback skills
• Improving the learning environment at Corewell Health in West Michigan

At the end of this program, participants will be able to: 

• Identify strategies to effectively teach in busy clinical settings
• Outline the key components of an effective direct observation of learners
• List and describe the elements of constructive and effective feedback to learners
• Articulate the key steps of teaching clinical procedures
• Practice evaluating residents using competency-based assessments

The Corewell Health Office of Medical Education in West Michigan is proud to offer our hybrid Clinical Teacher Program (CTP) and Clinical Teacher Program for Surgeons courses! This course is a direct result of the Faculty Development Needs Assessment meetings held with each of our residency and fellowship programs. The hybrid modality allows participants to maximize their learning and training while being cognizant of their limited time to attend courses in person.

The Clinical Teacher Program condenses the previous 2-day in-person course into a hybrid model consisting of:

• An engaging, interactive and asynchronous online module
• A 4-hour in-person session that includes group discussions and opportunities to practice new skills

Topics covered in the course:

• Orienting new learners
• Conducting direct observations
• Teaching bedside procedures
• Giving feedback
• Designing effective competency-based assessment
• Clinical questioning (CTP)
• Graduated Autonomy (CTP for Surgeons)

The new CTP and CTP for Surgeons courses are open to Program Directors, Assistant Program Directors, Core and Community Faculty, as well as Fellows and Senior/Chief Residents. CTP for Surgeons is primarily for surgical and critical care residency and fellowship programs. With both CTP and CTP for Surgeons, completing both the online and in-person portions will earn 6 CME credits.

New for 2024/2025: Condensed Clinical Teacher Program

Whether you are unable to attend either Clinical Teacher Program course due to scheduling constraints or have taken the course and would like a quick refresh, the condensed version is for you! Participants will still complete our interactive and asynchronous online module but will just come for an hour of practice teaching scenarios. Just like the full CTP courses, there is a condensed day for surgical and intensivist specialties and one for medical specialties:

• "The approach to the difficult conversation was great - not an easy task but such an important one. A key responsibility of being a teacher/preceptor is being able to have the difficult conversation."
• "The course helps you realize it's okay to only teach or observe or give feedback on portions of tasks/procedures."
• "We enjoyed the One-Minute-Preceptor, Pendleton rules, and learning variety of teaching techniques and skills to use in precepting in busy office."
• "It was a wonderful opportunity to practice the skills we were taught. This is so important as a clinical educator to ensure proper feedback and to make sure my skills are up to the best they can be for teaching.
• "This should be offered to all preceptors! I love that it is an offered benefit at no cost - shows CH/MSUs commitment to increase the quality of medical education."
• “Learning a new and better approach to teaching that engages learners at a higher level. I loved how interactive it [Bedside Skills Teaching] was and having the opportunity to play the role of a learner, teacher and observer and learning new skills.”