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Become a highly effective endoscopy teacher, from start to finish
When I first became an attending, I was struck by how difficult it was to teach endoscopy effectively. As a fellow, I saw the various teaching styles of my attendings, and it was easy to pick out the best teachers from the group. But when the roles switched, and suddenly I was the supervising faculty member, it was hard to recall exactly what those teachers were doing to create an optimal learning environment in the endoscopy suite. Not only did I lack a framework on how to teach endoscopy, I also was still building confidence in my own endoscopic skills while feeling the pressure to keep my room running on time. All in all, although I loved the opportunity to teach, I found the experience to be quite stressful.
Hoping to find some guidance, I turned to the literature and was fortunate to find some great pieces on how to teach endoscopy effectively. I learned of cognitive load theory – the idea that short-term or “working memory” can manage only a few pieces of information at a time – and how excess feedback or other external distractions (e.g., pagers) during a procedure can overwhelm a learner and lead to declining performance.1 I also read about the pursuit of “conscious competence,” where an endoscopist can verbalize the steps of a maneuver so that a trainee can remain on the scope and maximize hands-on participation.2
Motivated to bring these key concepts together in an evidence-based framework, I helped lead a Delphi study of GI fellowship program directors and endoscopy education experts to reach consensus on the best practices of teaching endoscopy.3 After two rounds of surveys, the participants identified 10 essential endoscopy teaching practices, which I will summarize in the next sections. What I found most helpful was how these practices were distributed throughout the endoscopy learning experience. By breaking down the complicated task of teaching endoscopy to three discrete parts – prior to the procedure, during the procedure, and after the procedure – I now had a framework to take back to the endoscopy suite.
Prior to the procedure
With a busy endoscopy schedule and increasing clinical demands, it is tempting to use the time between cases to complete documentation, address patient messages, and review emails. While this is great for efficiency, make sure to also reserve time to set the stage for your fellow. One of the key practices during this phase is to assess your fellow’s current procedural competency. I start open-ended by asking my fellows how they have been doing with colonoscopy and then ask if they are working on a specific skill. With this information, I have a sense of how much hands-on assistance they will need, what realistic goals to set for them (e.g., navigate out of the sigmoid colon for an early learner vs. efficiently and independently completing the entire case for a later learner), and the areas to focus my observation to provide feedback after the procedure.
During this preparatory time, faculty should also discuss the patient history and indications for the procedure. Reviewing information such as prior sedation requirements and confirming plans for the procedure (e.g., random colon biopsies in a patient with chronic diarrhea and concern for microscopic colitis) helps ensure a proper plan is in place for the patient while also presenting opportunities for learning. Faculty can take this time to review the steps of a more complicated procedure (e.g., PEG placement) and establish ground rules such as when the attending will take the scope from the trainee. Lastly, make sure that the patient understands the role of the fellow and the supervision you will be providing throughout the case.
During the procedure
Once the procedure starts, your most important task is to maintain attention throughout the case – if you do, the other best practices generally fall into place. I am most attentive when I am gowned and positioned next to the fellow. From this vantage point, I can see the patient, the fellow’s hands, and the endoscopy screen, which allows me to readily assist if needed while directly observing the fellow’s performance.
If I need to provide feedback in the moment, I often ask the fellows to pause what they are doing and first listen to my feedback. Taking this “timeout” helps manage their cognitive load such that they can actually hear the feedback. As a general rule, however, I try to reserve the bulk of my feedback for when the procedure is complete (see next section). Another way to manage your fellow’s cognitive load is by using standardized endoscopic language throughout the procedure. For example, rather than say “go to the left” during a colonoscopy, try saying “tip left” or “torque counterclockwise” to provide more clear instructions to the fellow. Holding your fellow’s pager during the procedure is a kind gesture that also helps minimize extraneous cognitive load so that the fellow can focus on the procedure.
If your fellows get to a point where they cannot complete the task despite your giving appropriate feedback, or if patient safety concerns arise, then it is time for you to take hands-on control of the scope. In my experience, most fellows welcome the hands-on assistance as they are overloaded by the difficulty of the procedure. Setting this expectation ahead of time, as noted above, makes for a smoother transition. While assuming control of the scope, try to narrate what you are doing differently so that the fellow can still learn while watching. Once you complete the difficult portion of the procedure (e.g., reducing a loop to reach the cecum), return the scope to the fellow to maximize the hands-on participation (if time permits).
After the procedure
In the third and final stage of the endoscopy teaching experience, faculty should take the time to confirm the findings of the procedure with the fellow and discuss next steps in management for the patient. Finding these teachable moments helps solidify the cognitive learning for the fellow while also ensuring the patient receives the appropriate postprocedure recommendations. As part of this process, make sure to review the procedure note drafted by the fellow, and if you need to make any substantive edits, review the changes with the fellow so that he or she can learn for future cases.
To wrap up the session, provide feedback to the fellow on performance based on your direct observation. Make sure to name this process aloud – “Let’s do some feedback” – and start by asking how the fellow felt about the performance, both in terms of what went well and what the fellow would like to improve. Then provide your feedback on the performance and be specific, such as, “I really like how you identified a loop and then reduced around the hepatic flexure.” Conclude by having the fellow set a plan for improvement and make sure to ask for feedback on your own teaching performance.
In conclusion, teaching endoscopy is hard – especially as a junior attending. By breaking down the endoscopy teaching experience into its three components, however, and committing to teaching from start to finish, you can provide high-quality endoscopy education to your fellows while ensuring the best care for your patients.
Dr. Kumar is associate medicine clerkship director at Harvard Medical School, and associate physician in the division of gastroenterology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston. He disclosed having no conflicts of interest. He is on Twitter @NavinKumarMD.
References
1. Dilly CK and Sewell JL. 2017 Sep;153(3):632-36.
2. Waschke KA et al. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2016 Jun;30(3):409-19.
3. Kumar NL et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Mar;18(3):574-79.
When I first became an attending, I was struck by how difficult it was to teach endoscopy effectively. As a fellow, I saw the various teaching styles of my attendings, and it was easy to pick out the best teachers from the group. But when the roles switched, and suddenly I was the supervising faculty member, it was hard to recall exactly what those teachers were doing to create an optimal learning environment in the endoscopy suite. Not only did I lack a framework on how to teach endoscopy, I also was still building confidence in my own endoscopic skills while feeling the pressure to keep my room running on time. All in all, although I loved the opportunity to teach, I found the experience to be quite stressful.
Hoping to find some guidance, I turned to the literature and was fortunate to find some great pieces on how to teach endoscopy effectively. I learned of cognitive load theory – the idea that short-term or “working memory” can manage only a few pieces of information at a time – and how excess feedback or other external distractions (e.g., pagers) during a procedure can overwhelm a learner and lead to declining performance.1 I also read about the pursuit of “conscious competence,” where an endoscopist can verbalize the steps of a maneuver so that a trainee can remain on the scope and maximize hands-on participation.2
Motivated to bring these key concepts together in an evidence-based framework, I helped lead a Delphi study of GI fellowship program directors and endoscopy education experts to reach consensus on the best practices of teaching endoscopy.3 After two rounds of surveys, the participants identified 10 essential endoscopy teaching practices, which I will summarize in the next sections. What I found most helpful was how these practices were distributed throughout the endoscopy learning experience. By breaking down the complicated task of teaching endoscopy to three discrete parts – prior to the procedure, during the procedure, and after the procedure – I now had a framework to take back to the endoscopy suite.
Prior to the procedure
With a busy endoscopy schedule and increasing clinical demands, it is tempting to use the time between cases to complete documentation, address patient messages, and review emails. While this is great for efficiency, make sure to also reserve time to set the stage for your fellow. One of the key practices during this phase is to assess your fellow’s current procedural competency. I start open-ended by asking my fellows how they have been doing with colonoscopy and then ask if they are working on a specific skill. With this information, I have a sense of how much hands-on assistance they will need, what realistic goals to set for them (e.g., navigate out of the sigmoid colon for an early learner vs. efficiently and independently completing the entire case for a later learner), and the areas to focus my observation to provide feedback after the procedure.
During this preparatory time, faculty should also discuss the patient history and indications for the procedure. Reviewing information such as prior sedation requirements and confirming plans for the procedure (e.g., random colon biopsies in a patient with chronic diarrhea and concern for microscopic colitis) helps ensure a proper plan is in place for the patient while also presenting opportunities for learning. Faculty can take this time to review the steps of a more complicated procedure (e.g., PEG placement) and establish ground rules such as when the attending will take the scope from the trainee. Lastly, make sure that the patient understands the role of the fellow and the supervision you will be providing throughout the case.
During the procedure
Once the procedure starts, your most important task is to maintain attention throughout the case – if you do, the other best practices generally fall into place. I am most attentive when I am gowned and positioned next to the fellow. From this vantage point, I can see the patient, the fellow’s hands, and the endoscopy screen, which allows me to readily assist if needed while directly observing the fellow’s performance.
If I need to provide feedback in the moment, I often ask the fellows to pause what they are doing and first listen to my feedback. Taking this “timeout” helps manage their cognitive load such that they can actually hear the feedback. As a general rule, however, I try to reserve the bulk of my feedback for when the procedure is complete (see next section). Another way to manage your fellow’s cognitive load is by using standardized endoscopic language throughout the procedure. For example, rather than say “go to the left” during a colonoscopy, try saying “tip left” or “torque counterclockwise” to provide more clear instructions to the fellow. Holding your fellow’s pager during the procedure is a kind gesture that also helps minimize extraneous cognitive load so that the fellow can focus on the procedure.
If your fellows get to a point where they cannot complete the task despite your giving appropriate feedback, or if patient safety concerns arise, then it is time for you to take hands-on control of the scope. In my experience, most fellows welcome the hands-on assistance as they are overloaded by the difficulty of the procedure. Setting this expectation ahead of time, as noted above, makes for a smoother transition. While assuming control of the scope, try to narrate what you are doing differently so that the fellow can still learn while watching. Once you complete the difficult portion of the procedure (e.g., reducing a loop to reach the cecum), return the scope to the fellow to maximize the hands-on participation (if time permits).
After the procedure
In the third and final stage of the endoscopy teaching experience, faculty should take the time to confirm the findings of the procedure with the fellow and discuss next steps in management for the patient. Finding these teachable moments helps solidify the cognitive learning for the fellow while also ensuring the patient receives the appropriate postprocedure recommendations. As part of this process, make sure to review the procedure note drafted by the fellow, and if you need to make any substantive edits, review the changes with the fellow so that he or she can learn for future cases.
To wrap up the session, provide feedback to the fellow on performance based on your direct observation. Make sure to name this process aloud – “Let’s do some feedback” – and start by asking how the fellow felt about the performance, both in terms of what went well and what the fellow would like to improve. Then provide your feedback on the performance and be specific, such as, “I really like how you identified a loop and then reduced around the hepatic flexure.” Conclude by having the fellow set a plan for improvement and make sure to ask for feedback on your own teaching performance.
In conclusion, teaching endoscopy is hard – especially as a junior attending. By breaking down the endoscopy teaching experience into its three components, however, and committing to teaching from start to finish, you can provide high-quality endoscopy education to your fellows while ensuring the best care for your patients.
Dr. Kumar is associate medicine clerkship director at Harvard Medical School, and associate physician in the division of gastroenterology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston. He disclosed having no conflicts of interest. He is on Twitter @NavinKumarMD.
References
1. Dilly CK and Sewell JL. 2017 Sep;153(3):632-36.
2. Waschke KA et al. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2016 Jun;30(3):409-19.
3. Kumar NL et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Mar;18(3):574-79.
When I first became an attending, I was struck by how difficult it was to teach endoscopy effectively. As a fellow, I saw the various teaching styles of my attendings, and it was easy to pick out the best teachers from the group. But when the roles switched, and suddenly I was the supervising faculty member, it was hard to recall exactly what those teachers were doing to create an optimal learning environment in the endoscopy suite. Not only did I lack a framework on how to teach endoscopy, I also was still building confidence in my own endoscopic skills while feeling the pressure to keep my room running on time. All in all, although I loved the opportunity to teach, I found the experience to be quite stressful.
Hoping to find some guidance, I turned to the literature and was fortunate to find some great pieces on how to teach endoscopy effectively. I learned of cognitive load theory – the idea that short-term or “working memory” can manage only a few pieces of information at a time – and how excess feedback or other external distractions (e.g., pagers) during a procedure can overwhelm a learner and lead to declining performance.1 I also read about the pursuit of “conscious competence,” where an endoscopist can verbalize the steps of a maneuver so that a trainee can remain on the scope and maximize hands-on participation.2
Motivated to bring these key concepts together in an evidence-based framework, I helped lead a Delphi study of GI fellowship program directors and endoscopy education experts to reach consensus on the best practices of teaching endoscopy.3 After two rounds of surveys, the participants identified 10 essential endoscopy teaching practices, which I will summarize in the next sections. What I found most helpful was how these practices were distributed throughout the endoscopy learning experience. By breaking down the complicated task of teaching endoscopy to three discrete parts – prior to the procedure, during the procedure, and after the procedure – I now had a framework to take back to the endoscopy suite.
Prior to the procedure
With a busy endoscopy schedule and increasing clinical demands, it is tempting to use the time between cases to complete documentation, address patient messages, and review emails. While this is great for efficiency, make sure to also reserve time to set the stage for your fellow. One of the key practices during this phase is to assess your fellow’s current procedural competency. I start open-ended by asking my fellows how they have been doing with colonoscopy and then ask if they are working on a specific skill. With this information, I have a sense of how much hands-on assistance they will need, what realistic goals to set for them (e.g., navigate out of the sigmoid colon for an early learner vs. efficiently and independently completing the entire case for a later learner), and the areas to focus my observation to provide feedback after the procedure.
During this preparatory time, faculty should also discuss the patient history and indications for the procedure. Reviewing information such as prior sedation requirements and confirming plans for the procedure (e.g., random colon biopsies in a patient with chronic diarrhea and concern for microscopic colitis) helps ensure a proper plan is in place for the patient while also presenting opportunities for learning. Faculty can take this time to review the steps of a more complicated procedure (e.g., PEG placement) and establish ground rules such as when the attending will take the scope from the trainee. Lastly, make sure that the patient understands the role of the fellow and the supervision you will be providing throughout the case.
During the procedure
Once the procedure starts, your most important task is to maintain attention throughout the case – if you do, the other best practices generally fall into place. I am most attentive when I am gowned and positioned next to the fellow. From this vantage point, I can see the patient, the fellow’s hands, and the endoscopy screen, which allows me to readily assist if needed while directly observing the fellow’s performance.
If I need to provide feedback in the moment, I often ask the fellows to pause what they are doing and first listen to my feedback. Taking this “timeout” helps manage their cognitive load such that they can actually hear the feedback. As a general rule, however, I try to reserve the bulk of my feedback for when the procedure is complete (see next section). Another way to manage your fellow’s cognitive load is by using standardized endoscopic language throughout the procedure. For example, rather than say “go to the left” during a colonoscopy, try saying “tip left” or “torque counterclockwise” to provide more clear instructions to the fellow. Holding your fellow’s pager during the procedure is a kind gesture that also helps minimize extraneous cognitive load so that the fellow can focus on the procedure.
If your fellows get to a point where they cannot complete the task despite your giving appropriate feedback, or if patient safety concerns arise, then it is time for you to take hands-on control of the scope. In my experience, most fellows welcome the hands-on assistance as they are overloaded by the difficulty of the procedure. Setting this expectation ahead of time, as noted above, makes for a smoother transition. While assuming control of the scope, try to narrate what you are doing differently so that the fellow can still learn while watching. Once you complete the difficult portion of the procedure (e.g., reducing a loop to reach the cecum), return the scope to the fellow to maximize the hands-on participation (if time permits).
After the procedure
In the third and final stage of the endoscopy teaching experience, faculty should take the time to confirm the findings of the procedure with the fellow and discuss next steps in management for the patient. Finding these teachable moments helps solidify the cognitive learning for the fellow while also ensuring the patient receives the appropriate postprocedure recommendations. As part of this process, make sure to review the procedure note drafted by the fellow, and if you need to make any substantive edits, review the changes with the fellow so that he or she can learn for future cases.
To wrap up the session, provide feedback to the fellow on performance based on your direct observation. Make sure to name this process aloud – “Let’s do some feedback” – and start by asking how the fellow felt about the performance, both in terms of what went well and what the fellow would like to improve. Then provide your feedback on the performance and be specific, such as, “I really like how you identified a loop and then reduced around the hepatic flexure.” Conclude by having the fellow set a plan for improvement and make sure to ask for feedback on your own teaching performance.
In conclusion, teaching endoscopy is hard – especially as a junior attending. By breaking down the endoscopy teaching experience into its three components, however, and committing to teaching from start to finish, you can provide high-quality endoscopy education to your fellows while ensuring the best care for your patients.
Dr. Kumar is associate medicine clerkship director at Harvard Medical School, and associate physician in the division of gastroenterology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston. He disclosed having no conflicts of interest. He is on Twitter @NavinKumarMD.
References
1. Dilly CK and Sewell JL. 2017 Sep;153(3):632-36.
2. Waschke KA et al. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2016 Jun;30(3):409-19.
3. Kumar NL et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Mar;18(3):574-79.