For the past several years, the ATS has offered an increasing number of sessions and events that emphasize career development at its annual International Conference. The goal of these programs, which have been popular with fellows and junior and mid-level faculty members, has been to promote professional advancement and career satisfaction, as well as to broaden the value of the International Conference beyond the dissemination of information about scientific discoveries and quality patient care.
ATS 2010 will be no different—the program will include case-based sessions, a symposium on transitioning from training to a successful academic career and two lunchtime forums on how to advance and overcome obstacles in the academic and clinical realms. Given the workforce shortages in the fields of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, the Society will also sponsor specific events and venues to encourage those still early in training to pursue careers in these subspecialties.
Because teaching is so integral to the careers of many ATS members, and because teaching excellence is a magnet to attract new physicians to these fields, the ATS Education Committee is sponsoring a different kind of postgraduate course at ATS 2010 in New Orleans—one which will focus specifically on helping attendees to acquire the skills, concepts and methodologies that will allow them to teach at a higher level.
“The program will stress the importance of thinking critically and using technology to enhance teaching and learning,” said James M. Beck, M.D., chair of the Education Committee and associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. “Improving key teaching skills and concepts will likely have downstream effects, including enhanced patient care.” By participating in the course, he added, attendees will also fulfill the ACGME requirement that training program faculty receive instruction in educational methods and outcomes assessment.
The course will review the regulatory and competency-based framework that guides fellowship training, as well as the fundamental teaching skills and principles in adult learning in a variety of environments. But what makes the ATS program unique is its specific focus on the Society’s pillars of pulmonary and critical care. “While we know that some medical schools provide courses for clinician-educators, they can be very general,” Dr. Beck explained. “Our course will highlight examples directly from pulmonary wards, clinics and the ICU setting, all of which involve physicians, nurses and other specialists, and which are more germane to the fields in which attendees actually practice.”
Recognizing that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach, the program will include five 40-minute breakout sessions that will focus on lecture skill development, giving effective feedback, becoming a good mentor, multidisciplinary teaching and case-based teaching. Attendees can select the workshops that best fit their needs and interests.
“At the end of the course, participants will understand the unique needs of adult learners and how to address them, and to teach more dynamically and effectively in environments ranging from the ambulatory pulmonary clinic and the ICU to the simulation center and lecture hall,” said course co-chair David H. Roberts, M.D., clinical director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who will lead the breakout session on case-based teaching.
Attendees will also learn how to use cutting-edge technology to reach a new generation of learners and how to provide personal feedback to medical students, residents and fellows in a way that is “useful, constructive and non-threatening,” added co-chair Henry Fessler, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who will facilitate a workshop on how to create and deliver lectures that are engaging and informative. For the budding clinician-educator, the course will provide advice from senior colleagues on how to leverage a love of teaching into an academic career that is scholarly, rewarding and successful.
For more information on PG30 and to register, please visit www.thoracic.org/go/international-conference. Questions about the course should be directed to Rachel Makleff, Ph.D., director of ATS tactical management and CME development, at (212) 315-8644 or rmakleff@thoracic.org .