Conference Inspiration without the Side Effects: A Rejuvenating Article for the "Off-Season"

The expert patient as teacher: an interprofessional Health Mentors programme. Towle A, Brown H, Hofley C, Kerton RP, Lyons H, Walsh C. Clin Teach. 2014; 11:301-306. 

Available online from the Baystate Health Sciences Library or from PubMed at your institution.

Attending professional conferences is a great way to get inspired. Agendas are usually filled with a gluttonous amount of great ideas and innovations that I end up consuming ferociously for my practice. 

Hm. 

Disturbing visual image aside, conferences are equal parts overwhelming and rejuvenating, yet since we're months away from conference season, I thought this article - which reads like a conference-bound, broad-sweeping, well-rehearsed oral presentation of an innovation - might similarly inspire us in the "off season" (and from the comfort of our own living room couches). 

The authors present an innovative program in which patients are mentors for a small, inter-professional group of students. Is it novel that patients teach students how to care for patients? Not necessarily. 

But driving the innovation of this program are some considerations of program development that I have repurposed in the hopes that they inspire you.   

1. Reflection. Whether you view it as the icing on the cake or the cake itself, reflection is a key part of learning. Journaling and debriefing encourage both students and mentors to pause and draw meaning from their experiences and discussions. Anyone who has ever journaled or read the journal entries of others can attest to the power of reflective practice on learning. 

2. Demand creativity. Students in this program are asked to cap off two-semesters of conversations not with a test or an essay but with a "tweet" and a "creative, visual representation of their learning." Remember that pesky leveling of learning objectives? "Creative" exercises are up there with synthesizing new knowledge. Not a bad way to "test" the material...

3. Data, data, data. Note the ways that the program facilitators gather data and review it for  program effectiveness. Facilitators here are keyed in to the qualities that make this program work and are diligently monitoring the program to see if it meets goals, using both quantitative and qualitative data. In fact, I would argue that they could probably stand to collect some more quantitative data on students' development of competencies. I said it. But (and here's the confusing part), see #4... 

4. Think hard before overthinking it. In their reflections and advice to other programs, the authors write; "Minimal instructions: keep it simple, trust the process, and resist demands for more structure and instructions." Who doesn't love more structure? Their sentiment is helpful, though, that while you're collecting all of this great data, pause before you act too aggressively on it. (Just don't ask me how to do that.)   

Bottom Line:

Let this article infuse you with the inspiration that normally only comes from the burnt coffee and beige hotel chairs at your professional conference. Their innovation is interesting, but the real reason to break out the highlighter is the advice around their program development; a true boost of professional development without that pesky name tag.