Anticoagulation Lecture

Date: August 8th, 2024

Length of Activity: 1 hour

Prep Time: ~10 hours

Learners: 3 pharmacy residents, 2 pharmacists, ~40 medical residents, 4 attending physicians

Comfort Level: Medium

Teaching Goals Addressed: 

SMART Goal 5: Improve my lecture skills by presenting two one-hour long presentations for medical and pharmacy residents over the residency year. 

Teaching Materials: PowerPoint presentation 

Method Used to Assess Learner Understanding: Pre and post surveys over understanding and confidence in anticoagulation prescribing

Reflection: This teaching experience was the first experience I have had teaching physicians, so it was a little intimidating at first. In preparing for the presentation, I hoped to bring some confidence to our physicians in prescribing anticoagulants for our patients at Unity Health. I wanted to emphasize the indications for different anticoagulants and the monitoring necessary for the different medications. I created a survey for the medical residents to take before the presentation to assess their current comfort in prescribing anticoagulants, and then I gave them the same survey after my presentation to see how the presentation increased their knowledge and confidence. Something that I think went really well was my ability to answer questions from the audience that I hadn't prepared for; I was asked several different questions that I was able to confidently answer. One thing that I would do differently for my next presentation is to add more active learning into the presentation. During longer presentations, listeners might start to daydream or get distracted if the presenter doesn't keep the audience engaged and involved. By adding active learning elements, listeners can stay engaged in the presentation and ultimately get more out of it than if they were just passively listening for an hour. 

Feedback from Survey: 

Positive: A summary of the positive feedback includes that the presentation was organized, thorough, and easy to understand. Someone noted that I appeared confident and knowledgeable in my material and projected my voice well when speaking. These comments are encouraging as sometimes I can be my toughest critic. This type of feedback helps me to know that I had a successful presentation and was able to communicate the information in helpful way. 

Negative: A couple comments were made that I needed to be more cautious of time and that the lecture was too long. I failed to account for questions throughout my presentation, so I had to rush through the last couple slides, and I think this retracted from the presentation as a whole. Next presentation, I will make sure to include some time for questions. 

Lastly, the responses for each survey question (ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree) increased from the pre survey to the post survey indicating an increase in confidence and knowledge on the use of anticoagulants.