Spring 1984, Volume 9, Number 4 - Association of Schools and ...

Skills in Clinical Teaching:
A Faculty Development Program for Resident Optometrists
Laurence C. Bauer, M.S.W., and Arthur Alexander, O.D., FAAO
Introduction
Residents at the Pennsylvania College
of Optometry are required to participate
in patient care activities, and to
teach optometry students who rotate
through the College's Eye Institute. 1
Since these teaching responsibilities
confront the residents with a challenge
Mr. Bauer is Director of Faculty Development,
Department of Family and Community Medicine,
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania
State University.
Dr. Alexander is Assistant Professor of Optometry,
Pennsylvania College of Optometry.
which few had been prepared to handle,
a clinical teacher preparation program
is included as part of the total residency
program. The program is designed
to increase the clinical teaching
skills of resident optometrists.
Overview of the Program
Each year between 1980 and 1982, a
workshop was offered by the Office of
Faculty Development of the Department
of Family & Community Medicine
of The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center,
Pennsylvania State University. The
workshop focused on a set of communication
skills and a model of instruction
which had proven helpful to clinical instructors
in other primary care settings.
It also provided a means to evaluate the
effects of the workshop. The evaluation
measured changes in the residents' skill
level, and evaluated participant opinion
regarding the helpfulness of the training
immediately following and again, six
months after the program. The workshop
was offered to a total of 25 participants:
8 residents and 1 faculty person
in 1980, 7 residents in 1981; 9 residents
in 1982. In 1980 and 81, the workshops
involved three days of training,
and were offered at a site away from the
college. The 1982 workshop was ofii'*,«i
3"v2
16 Journal of Optometric Education