Medical Resident Lecture/ Precepting Reflections

• Medical Didactics Small Group Diabetes Facilitation (July 2020)

o Today I was blessed with my first teaching opportunity. Quite honestly, I did not really
have much time to prepare as I was assigned it the night before and it was something
the PGY2’s said I ought to already be great at- talking about diabetes medications. I
knew I was capable of talking about diabetes medications and answering questions on
them, so I decided to go forward with their request and help facilitate groups in medical
didactics. I recognized the stress and anxiety my co-residents were feeling, and I realized
I was not experiencing the same anxiety they were. I did feel a little intimidated when I
was first set with a group of medical residents, I felt less comfortable not knowing what
they know. I don’t know a medical residents formal training like I know a pharmacists,
so I was not sure how they would respond. Instead of spouting out everything I knew
about diabetes, instead I started off by introducing myself and the point of this next 20
minute session, and then I assessed their knowledge. I asked them what they knew.
Once I was able to assess their baseline I was able to formally educate more comfortably
as I saw what needed correcting and what was obvious information to the medical
residents. I continued this method for the other 4 groups, and I was amazed to see the
difference in knowledge base. The first years knew very little, so I had to go over the
very basics while the third years were reciting trials and challenging my knowledge
asking me questions I had never thought about. This made me realize I would need to
prepare differently for each group I taught.
• Osteoporosis Lecture for Medical Residents & Faculty Physicians (September 2020)
o Intimidated. I had not really been struggling with nerves for a while prior to presenting/
teaching. I would get some nervous butterflies, but nothing too uncomfortable. I
generally really enjoy the act of presenting/ teaching, because I know each time I do it I
can get better and more comfortable with it. Prior to this lecture however, I was quite
nervous. I don’t remember being this nervous for a presentation since my APPE year. I
realize my audience makes a huge difference in how I feel. Today I was presenting to 27
medical residents, roughly 10 faculty physicians, and roughly 5 ambulatory care
pharmacists. I was intimidated. Technology also did not cooperate as it was supposed
to, apparently poll everywhere was only downloaded on my personal laptop, not the
one I would use to present. I made it through. I was trying hard for this to be interactive,
but the medical residents were tired and were not giving me much in return. Once I
started quizzing them on questions they did not know- they got competitive and more
engaged. The end of the class went better than the beginning, as I got more comfortable
and my audience was more engaged I was more encouraged. The kahoot game at the
end brought out everyone’s competitive edge which was a lot of fun. I walked away
feeling embarrassed, and feeling like I did terribly. I had the entire class fill out
evaluations on me, and almost everyone ranked me 5’s or 4’s including the faculty
physicians. I was unsure if the group was just not paying attention, or if it did not go as
horribly as I thought it did. One of my students who was also watching made a comment
to me that sticks with me and gives me hope- “You are such a teacher”. Regardless, I
knew I had some reflecting to do, and I now know that my audience makes a significant
difference. (Which means I need to prepare differently beforehand).
Primary Preceptor PGY3 (April 2021)

I am thankful to have my experience primary precepting a final year family medicine resident later on in
the residency year. It really is incredible to think about how self conscious I was when I started this
program, how nervous I was, and to think of how much my residency has helped me gain confidence. I
was excited for this opportunity, but also I realized and chose to reflect on a few things in particular.
When I have a pharmacy student, or when anyone has a pharmacy student for a rotation – they are
expected to reach out ahead of time, be the one to contact the preceptor, and show professionalism. I
know the way we were taught in pharmacy school, there was no other option, this was our
responsibility. We always hold APPE students to these standards at our site, but I started wondering one
day why we did not hold medical residents to at least a similar standard. The medical resident I
precepted did not reach out ahead of time although there was clear expectations set from the director,
and the medical resident was not very prepared or able to follow up on very many things. When asking
others for advice, it was presented that the “pharmacotherapy” rotation was really considered a “blow
off or easy a”. I did a lot of reflecting on this and decided to approach my residency director on this
topic, to see his thoughts. He told me of a time where he ran the pharmacotherapy elective, and the
residents were always working incredibly hard -but the more important part is they always responded in
the end that they had learned so, so much during the rotation. This information gave me hope, and I
have a goal to create a more engaging and fruitful rotation for medical residents going forward. I
decided to start this off by holding the medical resident accountable, and setting clear expectations
from day one. I certainly realize there are many differences to this precepting situation, this is not a
pharmacy student, this is a medical resident only 2 months away from graduating and becoming a family
medicine physician. This means the rotation has been very independent. I feel like in the past I am much
more involved in my student rotations, and I have had much less touch points with the medical resident.
I do not think this is inappropriate, as I have gotten good feedback about her punctuality, she does text
me with any questions, and with her being 2 months shy of graduation and being a primary care
provider- I think independence makes sense.

Another take away I have from this rotation- emergencies happen. The medical resident experienced an
emergency medical situation right before a presentation and asked if we could postpone the
presentation. I was shocked that the resident would even ask, and not just attend to the emergency
situation. With that being said, I appreciate the dedication and communication that was shown even
asking about postponing a presentation amidst an emergency. This makes me think going forward,
communication is key but I would hope that my learners think of me as someone who would absolutely
understand when an emergency situation comes up- that I will absolutely understand. We cancelled the
presentation, I sent a notice to the faculty and residents who were planning to be present (without
giving any personal information away) and told the group we would reschedule on a later occasion. I
think this situation was handled well, however I do hope the medical resident knew I would understand
emergency situations come up and that other things are not a priority over those. I will continue to
reflect on how to best precept medical residents near graduation going forward, but this was an overall
powerful experience for myself as well. I took more away from this precepting experience than I had
anticipated.