SM13: Shortened Training Time for Otolaryngology Residents Prompts Call for Education Reform

Expand learning opportunities. Dr. Medina proposed a departure from the traditional lectures and tutorials “that are often held at an inflexible time and in a uniform way” and a move toward a variety of learning techniques, including e-learning. While acknowledging that this change is taking place now, Dr. Medina thinks it isn’t progressing fast enough. “Doing this can go a long way toward easing the pressure on time for both the clinicians trying to impart their knowledge and the residents trying to acquire it,” he said. “We must also develop training opportunities outside the operating room using simulators, artificial body parts and animal models.”

Maximize the effectiveness of teaching. Teaching might come naturally to some people, but this is not true of most, he said. “Regardless of our basic ability, the preparation to teach occurs as on-the-job training by trial and error,” he added. “Unfortunately, this type of preparation is empiric, usually takes a long time and often results in a rigid learning style…. We can no longer afford this type of preparation.”

Educating the Educators

Dr. Medina called for a “required systematic effort that leads clinicians to understand the latest developments in education theory and practice and to correlate them into a training program.” He said the Triological Society needs to take a role in “educating the educators” by working with the Otolaryngology Program Directors Association and the Society of University Otolaryngologists, and said steps have already been taken to make that happen.

For guidance, he pointed to the trainer’s course of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, a program that acknowledges differences in learning styles and the implications of these differences on how students should be educated, emphasizes the ability to relate areas of learning to surgery and covers the advantages and disadvantages of different teaching methods. “The end product of this type of educational program is a knowledgeable, open-minded and flexible teacher who knows about, and is not afraid to try, different proven techniques or methods of teaching.”