The Administrative Tutorial

Abstract

Objective: Organizational skills needed in academic settings have been addressed by a number of faculty development programs in family medicine. We designed an educational strategy for teaching medical administration skills to recent residency graduates in a faculty development fellowship using a problem-based learning (PBL) format. Targeted skills include identification and assessment of problems, designing and implementing solutions and strategic planning. Description: The Harbor—UCLA Family Medicine Faculty Development Fellowship is a one-year program for recent residency graduates. As part of the curriculum, we offer a workshop to prepare fellows for administrative roles in medical settings. Initially designed as a series of readings and discussions of topics such as personnel and time management, the workshop failed to inspire enthusiasm in the participants. Midway through the 1999–2000 academic year, we switched to a PBL format, with the hope of breathing new life into the curriculum. The group, consisting of four fellows, was given an assignment to develop a plan for a hypothetical new clinic in a neighboring community. We began by listing issues to be addressed in order to open a new clinic. The fellows explored these issues and reported to the group. Once the group had compiled a written plan for the “clinic,” outside experts were invited to attend the workshop as “consultants” to the “clinic planning group.” These experts were an architect, a medical information specialist, the financial officer of a community clinic, and an expert in community needs assessment. Interaction with experts from a variety of disciplines simulated the planning process that would occur in a real situation. The hypothetical group planning exercise is currently being conducted in 2000–01 with a second group of four fellows. The current group had input into the parameters of their project. They chose a community and performed a needs assessment by surveying physicians and medical facilities in the area. After obtaining demographic and health insurance data for the target population, they began to design their “clinic.” Discussion: The shift to this new format greatly improved the fellows' enthusiasm and participation during workshop sessions. The learning resulting from the problem-based exercise is congruent with the expressed career goals of most of the fellows. Engaging in the hypothetical planning process has allowed them to practice skills that they consider relevant to future tasks. According to current learning theory as applied to PBL, the closer the problem is to the real situation, the greater the likelihood that transfer of knowledge will occur. The “problem” used in this PBL tutorial is a structured group task that can be carried on longitudinally and can evolve over time according to the learning needs of the group. Allowing participants to have input into the parameters of the project enhances the relevance of the assignment to their needs. This format actively fosters teamwork and collaboration. The hypothetical group project is a type of problem that is well suited to advanced learners since it can be designed to simulate real-life situations relevant to their future professional activities.