Optimizing Outpatient Resident Education Through Precepting Microskills: A Cross-Sectional, Observational Study

Objective Continuity clinics are a cornerstone of family medicine residency. The unpredictable nature of clinic limits the opportunity for formal education during a session. We developed a novel resident-faculty workshop using the ‘One Minute Preceptor’ model to teach five microskills of precepting. This cross-sectional, observational study evaluated the effectiveness of a single resident-faculty workshop in improving implementation of a systematic method of precepting. Methods We conducted a 45-minute workshop during a quarterly resident and faculty meeting at a large academic family medicine residency. Faculty members and residents completed pre- and 2-month post-assessments measuring change in the five core precepting microskills over time. Independent T-tests were conducted to assess statistical significance between mean scores related to the core microskills of the pre- and post-group. Results Post-intervention, participants were significantly (p<0.05) more likely to ‘get a commitment’ from their learner. The remaining four microskills had numerical improvements in mean scores in the post-intervention assessment but did not achieve statistical significance. Conclusion This workshop led to improvement in incorporating one of the five microskills of precepting and showed that a brief educational session can be effective as an educational intervention for outpatient precepting.