Shelley R. Ost, MD, MEd
Educator portfolio
Associate Professor, University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine
Division Chief, General Internal Medicine
Memphis, TN
Teaching Philosophy:
I enjoy sharing my experience and knowledge with motivated learners.
I believe in finding learners where they are and providing encouragement for them to stretch their skills, seek out new knowledge, and push themselves to be better.
I believe my learners are adults with values and their own style of practice. Instead of making everyone like me, I would like to help them find their own way.
I believe in modeling integrity, humility, hard work, compassion, and a commitment to learning.
I encourage the patient-focused approach to care. I want learners to know the book answer, and recognize the real-life considerations that change treatment plans.
Ways I have incorporated my philosophy into my teaching style:
Cases illustrate concepts, and I often will begin with a real patient case, and change the case slightly to demonstrate how small differences in presentation can change the differential diagnosis or treatment. In this way I move their learning further up Bloom's taxonomy, from the Remember to the Apply and Analyze stages (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007). For example, I revised a Team-based Learning activity based on Andragogy principles (Maggio, Cate, Irby, & O’Brien, 2015) to improve learner involvement and retention.
I incorporate interactive features in my rounding and conferences, asking questions, having learners state what they already know, read X-rays, or tell me what treatment or test they would choose. I strive to keep the atmosphere casual, and to encourage learners to ask questions and think out loud. I believe that thinking out loud through patient cases with coaching is the best way to teach clinical reasoning (Kassirer, 2010).
My approach as a teacher is to provide individualized support, positivity, encouragement, and modeling to show learners how to perform to the best of their ability. I hold my learners to high standards of completeness and hard work. I expect them to have a certain knowledge base and use it well, but more importantly I want to teach them how to think and how to learn so they will always be able to expand their knowledge and use it to solve clinical problems (Oussalah, Fournier, Guéant, & Braun, 2015). I use techniques to encourage interaction and higher-level thinking, while using the patients as the primary basis for most learning activities to foster improved retention and meaning.
I have changed my timing and use of learners’ time in response to feedback. Today’s residents are over-scheduled, moving directly from one activity to the next, with little time to reflect and read. I believe in maximizing our clinical teaching time and making the patients the focus of my time with the learners. I have incorporated reflection into remediation activities for residents on a Performance Improvement Plan, to improve their own learning from evaluations and critical incidents (Aronson, 2010).
I strive to put forward an accessible face, and continue to work to be perceived that way. I have worked to consistently project positivity, interest in patients and learners, and openness to my learners.
I have received predominantly positive feedback from learners that I have high standards, am approachable, and I make rounding and learning enjoyable.
Aronson, L. (2010). Twelve tips for teaching reflection at all levels of medical education. http://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2010.507714
Kassirer, J. P. (2010). Teaching Clinical Reasoning: Case-Based and Coached. Academic Medicine, 85 (7), p. 1118-1124. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181d5dd0d
Maggio, L. a., Cate, O. Ten, Irby, D. M., & O’Brien, B. C. (2015). Designing Evidence-Based Medicine Training to Optimize the Transfer of Skills From the Classroom to Clinical Practice. Academic Medicine, XX(X), 1. http://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000769
Merriam S., Caffarella, R., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide [3rd ed.]. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Oussalah, A., Fournier, J. P., Guéant, J. L., & Braun, M. (2015). Information-seeking behavior during residency is associated with quality of theoretical learning, academic career achievements, and evidence-based medical practice: a strobe-compliant article. Medicine, 94(6), e535.
--Shelley Ost, MD, MEd