Is Continuing Education Really Worth It?

by Brittany Palasik, Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

My parents are both pharmacists practicing in the state of Maryland.  Over the years, I have attended many continuing education sessions with them.  I have snored through most, but was intrigued by some of the topics discussed.  Some pharmacists are so specialized now, that it seems useless to spend time learning topics that don’t directly pertain to their specialty. How essential is it to learn topics that seem unrelated to your scope of practice?

Continuing education (CE) is required by law for many health professionals.  The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education describes the importance of maintaining knowledge for health professionals.¹  Indeed, knowledge has been moving forward increasingly fast and health professionals need to continually learn the latest information in science and medicine. However, many healthcare professionals complain about the extra work required and wonder if CE is actually beneficial.  I decided to investigate the pros and cons of continuing education.  Is it really necessary?  After all, aren’t we all supposed to be learning on the job every day? 

Why Require CE?

Fact:  CE has been directly correlated to positive health outcomes.²

In a study completed by the American College of Surgeons, continuing education resulted in reduced morbidity and mortality rates for surgeons performing segmental colon resections as well as repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms.  Additionally, rates of myocardial infarction were lower in cardiologists who had participated in continuing education, than those who had not.²  

Fact: CE can improve knowledge in the short- and long-term.³

Twenty eight different studies were examined by the Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Centre to determine the efficacy of continuing education.  Twenty-two (79%) of the studies showed knowledge improvement, whereas only 4 (14%) of the studies showed no difference in knowledge (2 studies [7%] had mixed results).  These same 28 studies were evaluated through follow-up and resulted in 15 studies (68%) demonstrated long-term knowledge retention.³

Why shouldn’t we require CE?

Fact:  CE programs can be biased.

        

All too often health professions will obtain most of continuing education funding from pharmaceutical companies.  This can introduce bias, as each company can influence the subject matter.  Additionally, this can reduce the availability of content that may be relevant for contemporary practice but which is not within the business interests of the sponsor.² For example, a new guideline that is important for the healthcare community may not be promoted through continuing education because the guideline does not favor the use of more expensive brand-name products.   

Fact:  CE is time-consuming.

In Maryland, 30 hours of approved continuing education must be completed by pharmacists within 2 years in order to renew licensure.  Two of these hours must be live sessions.⁴ Some pharmacists complain that 30 hours is a large amount of time to dedicate to continuing education.  Some pharmacists and other healthcare professionals believe that they learn every day through their work activities and this extra work should not be required.

For those who believe CE should be required, the evidence suggests, that under optimal conditions, continuing education is beneficial.³ But CE isn’t without problems.  Its potentially biased and requires an investment of time and money. I think we can all agree that poorly designed instruction that’s not engaging or relevant to the audience is unlikely to lead to improvements in practice or patient care outcomes.  How can we ensure that healthcare professionals are getting a snooze-free, informative, knowledge refresher that improves their skills and the care of patients? 

How can we improve CE?

A systematic review completed evaluated different forms of educational techniques including live sessions, computer-based instruction (off-line and online real-time), videos, audio recordings, handheld materials such as laminated cards, and printed documents (articles and monograph).³  Simulations and other interactive lessons, whether online or in person, were the most effective.  There was no differences found in any of the other instructional techniques when used alone. However, there was a significant difference when instructional techniques were combined.  So, by combining different techniques such as videos, hand-outs, and live simulations, continuing education can produce significant improvements in healthcare practitioner knowledge and skills.  It was also shown that repetition led to improvements in short and long-term knowledge retention.

There are many recommendations to reduce the potential bias due to commercialism.  Increasing awareness among healthcare providers regarding the potential bias within continuing education programming seems to be the best first step.  By revealing the possibility for bias, professionals may be more apt to critically evaluate continuing education programs.  Other suggestions include requirements mandated by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME):⁵

1. Compiling a list of (that year’s) most important topics

2. Requiring proper disclosure of amounts received for funding

3. Limiting the amount of funding received from commercial entities or completely removing commercial funding.  

Lastly, there has been a lot of hype about implementing the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Model.  The CPD differs from traditional CE in that it incorporates practice-based learning.  The goal is to improve performance of healthcare providers and to individualize objectives for a particular person or organization.⁶

Figure 1

Source:  https://www.acpe-accredit.org/pdf/images/CPDCycle2011Color.jpg

The CPD cycle (Figure 1) begins with self-appraisal: the individual reflects upon his or her own experiences, strengths, and weaknesses.  Then the individual creates a personalized learning plan, implements it (with documentation of course!), and evaluates the efficacy of what’s been learned.  The circle metaphorically represents the never-ending cycle of knowledge and skill development in healthcare.  As healthcare professionals, we have to continually learn new advances and skills if we want to make a positive impact in patients’ lives.⁶

References

1. Why Accredited CME is Important: CME That Supports a Lifetime in Medical Practice [Internet]. Chicago, IL: Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education; 2012 [cited 5 Feb 2014].
2. Ahmed K, Wang TT, Ashrafian H, et al.  The effectiveness of continuing medical education for specialist recertification. Can Urol Assoc J. 2013;7:266–272.
3. Marinopoulos SS, Dorman T, Ratanawongsa N, et al. Effectiveness of continuing medical education. Evid Rep Technol Assess 2007;(149):1–69.
4. Pharmacy Laws and Regulations for the State of Maryland. 14^th ed. Baltimore, MD: Maryland Pharmacists Association; 2014. P. 297
5. Harrison RV. The uncertain future of continuing medical education: commercialism and shifts in funding. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2003;23:198-209.
6. Rouse MJ. Continuing Professional Development in Pharmacy. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2004;44:517-520.

Teaching e-Professionalism

by Katie Brant, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, the Johns Hopkins Hospital

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn … the list goes on and on. Social media has an increasing presence in our society and professional students are not immune to this cultural shift towards information sharing and social openness. As the social media and online forums grow, health professionals and students have more opportunities to interact with colleagues, patients, and faculty online — whether it is via email, social networking, blogging, or tweeting. My personal experience with social media began as an undergraduate student when Facebook was first emerging, continued through pharmacy school, and into my residency training. As a professional student, I can remember wondering if social networking websites were appropriate, whether I needed to change my profile when applying to post-graduate residency programs, where the line between my personal and professional life existed online, and how I was representing myself and my profession via social media. Professional students and faculty must make decisions regarding online social media resources and online communication etiquette; decisions that could potentially impact their careers.

Professionalism in the online domain, or e-professionalism, has become a significant issue in health professions education as well as practice. One of the goals of professional education is to instill values and a sense of responsibility in students.  E-professionalism is no less crucial than more traditional forms of professionalism and should be taught in the professional curriculum. E-professionalism has been defined by Cain and Romanelli as “the attitudes and behaviors (some of which may occur in private settings) reflecting traditional professionalism paradigms that are manifested through digital media.”¹ E-professionalism not only encompasses professional behavior on social networking sites but also proper online communication etiquette, also termed “netiquette.” Netiquette includes using appropriate terms and tone when writing emails or posting on online discussion boards.¹

Through the use of social media sources, a professional student creates an “online persona” based on choice of photographs, group affiliations, posts, and comments.¹ Students digress from professional norms when they post derogatory comments about their educational institution, post pictures of drug or alcohol abuse, affiliate with groups that are disrespectful of certain races or sexualities, and post private patient information on public domains.¹

Many health care institutions including The Ohio State University Medical Center, Mayo Clinic, and University of Maryland are now instituting policies with guidelines regarding use of social networking by employees in order to protect the reputation and privacy of their employees and the institution.² The Ohio State University Medical Center now has Social Media Participation Guidelines which outline rules that employees are expected to follow when using social media sites. These rules prohibit using social media sites during work hours, using of a work email address on social media sites, and attributing any opinions or comments posted on a website to the institution.²

This then begs the question of how e-professionalism should be taught and when it should be introduced to professional students. Many universities already incorporate a professionalism course or module in their curricula.  Spending some time discussing e-professionalism would be a relatively seamless addition to these courses. Kaczmarczyk and colleagues recommend focusing on instruction regarding about e-professionalism and how it reflects professional values, ethics, and integrity. Educators can develop course materials that give students examples of what is acceptable online behavior and behaviors to avoid.² Instructors should have students to evaluate online posts, discuss aspects of professionalism with peers, and reflect on how postings may be interpreted by outside viewers.²  It is also important that the institution’s honor codes and policies include e-professionalism too.¹

Although there are limited data regarding best practice approaches to incorporating e-professionalism into the professional school curricula, there are many examples of how to effectively teach the general principles of professional behavior that could be applied.³ One example described in the literature comes from Auburn University’s Harrison School of Pharmacy (AUHSOP). This school promotes the development of professional behaviors from admission to graduation.  New students and recently hired faculty go through orientation to learn about the school’s culture as well as the values and expectations regarding professionalism and integrity. Professionalism behaviors are evaluated and acceptable performance is required for academic progression.  Severe professionalism lapses can lead to student dismissal. This curricular design instills the culture of professionalism and integrity at the very beginning of the students’ academic career.  Hopefully these behaviors and values continue beyond graduation.

I believe that incorporating e-professionalism instruction throughout the curriculum would be the most effective strategy for changing students’ perceptions and practices. New student orientation would be an ideal time to introduce the concept. Educators could discuss the importance of maintaining a professional online persona and conduct a workshop in which students evaluate social media profiles.  This would make the instruction more practical and relevant.  To reinforce what was taught in orientation, there could be an online module reviewing e-professionalism principles that students are required to complete annually. Finally, given that potential employers or residency directors may utilize social media websites when screening candidates, e-professionalism should be explored again a few months prior graduation.

Ness and colleagues conducted a study in which a survey was distributed to graduating pharmacy students at several Midwestern schools of pharmacy.⁴ A vast major (93%) of the pharmacy students used social media websites.  More importantly, 74% felt that they should edit their social media profiles before applying for jobs. Thus the prevalence of social media use is high among professional students and students understand the importance of censoring publically available information in order to portray a professional persona.

While social media and online communication is increasingly common, educating students about professionalism and role modeling appropriate behavior is not a new idea. Educators (and preceptors) should provide instruction on e-professionalism and online etiquette to help prepare the next generation of professional students for a successful career.

References:

1. Cain J, Romanelli F. E-professionalism: A new paradigm for a digital age. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2009;1:66–70.
2. Kaczmarczyk JM, Chuang A, Dugoff L, et al. e-Professionalism: a new frontier in medical education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine 2013; 25(2): 165-170.
3. Berger BA, Butler SL, Duncan-Hewitt W. Changing the culture: an institution-wide approach to instilling professional values. Am J Pharm Ed 2004; 68(1): Article 22.
4. Ness GL, Sheehan AH, Snyder ME, et al. Graduating pharmacy students’ perspectives on e-professionalism and social media. Am J Pharm Ed 2013; 77(7): Article 146.

Know Your Writes

by Imran Qureshi, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore

In higher education, writing assignments often serve very broad academic purposes, namely: to assess critical thinking, understanding, and memory.¹  As a writer, I’ve come to appreciate that teaching about writing is too often overlooked. The writing skills I obtained from my elementary school days through pharmacy school are used every day - whether it is to write a short story or a SOAP note. Teaching proper writing methods is critical not only because these skills are needed for high-level professional positions but once improper techniques become ingrained, making changes becomes more difficult. As the reader of numerous essays and residency application letters, I’ve grown to appreciate the power writing – how it can help some people achieve their aspirations and devastate others. Teachers can prevent poor writing by teaching the process from a systematic and analytical perspective. However many professionals claim the training they received during their undergraduate years did not provide enough preparation for their on-the-job writing tasks.²

Writing workshops that teach teachers how to teach writing help them make better instructional design choices, improve their own writing skills, and increase their personal desire to write.³  When teachers model the fundamentals of the writing process such as pre-writing, drafting, and editing, students emulate these tasks and begin to embed them into their own writing process.³ Incorporating writing assignments into a discipline specific context is the best way to engage students and making writing assignments more relevant. For example, pharmacy residency preceptors should assign writing assignments to residents during most rotations.⁴

Audience analysis is an essential component of writing.  This guides the student towards creating a precise message that will be understood by the audience based on the reader’s needs and objectives.⁵  For example, when writing research grants, it’s important to appeal to the reader in terms of how the study will advance the funding organization’s mission. In this scenario, teaching students to role-play reading the proposal as a member of the foundation’s board will enhance the writer’s ability to align their needs with those of the organization.⁶

Assessing writing and providing personalized feedback is crucial.  Teachers need to reinforce proper writing habits. Commenting on the content of a student’s written work has to be done in the context of a student’s ability to understand the subject matter.¹ For example, asking a resident to explain the rationale for the use of a drug requires the preceptor to assess the resident’s comprehension of the existing body of literature and to provide feedback in terms of the resident’s existing knowledge. Peer review can help writers by providing a method of detecting common errors in writing including simple grammatical and spelling mistakes.⁷

In healthcare education, reflective writing assignments have become commonplace.  These types of writing assignments are intended to improve healthcare professional communication and patient interactions.⁸  However many students lack proper writing skills and thus fail to bring forth insight or meaning from their experiences.⁹

Checklists which provide guidance and prompt the students to address specific questions is one technique for improving writing skills. A checklist is a way for students to prevent mechanical errors and to redirect students when there is a ‘stream of ideas’.¹⁰  A checklist can include items specific to a task, however most will include items such as:⁹

-       Organization

-       Title (word limit)

-       Introduction

o   Statement of Purpose/Thesis

o   Background information

-       Body

o   Fully developed points

o   Proper paragraph development (indentation, introduction, and summary statements)

o   In text citations

o   Appropriate length

-       Conclusion

o   Major points summarized

o   Limitations

o   Recommendations

-       Mechanics

o   Margins

o   Grammar

o   Formatting

o   Proper use of Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative and Exclamatory Statements

o   Reference list formatting

Modeling good writing habits and helping students to understand the intended audience are just two of the many methods to support students as they improve their writing skills. Teaching writing should always include constructive feedback and checklists can help students examine their own work.

References:

1. Coffin, C, Curry, MJ, Goodman, S, Hewings, A, Lillis, TM, Swann, J. Teaching Academic Writing: A Toolkit for Higher Education. [Internet]. London, England: Routledge, 2003. viii, 175 pp.
2. Mabrito M. From workplace to classroom: Teaching professional writing. Business Communication Quarterly [Internet]. 1999 09;62:101-5.
3. Urquhart V. Examining 4 myths about learning to teach writing. Journal of Staff Development [Internet]. 2006;27:30-5.
4. Brown JN, Tiemann KA, Ostroff JL. Description of a medical writing rotation for a postgraduate pharmacy residency program. J Pharm Pract [Internet]. 2013 Dec 27 (epub ahead of print)
5. Campbell N. Getting rid of the yawn factor: Using a portfolio assignment to motivate students in a professional writing class. Business Communication Quarterly [Internet]. 2002;65:42-54.
6. Bush J, Zuidema L. Professional writing in the english classroom: Let's get real--using usability to connect writers, readers, and texts. English Journal [Internet]. 2012;102:138-41.
7. Crossman JM, Kite SL. Facilitating improved writing among students through directed peer review. Active Learning in Higher Education [Internet]. 2012;13:219-29.
8. Wear D, Zarconi J, Garden R, Jones T. Reflection in/and writing: Pedagogy and practice in medical education. Acad Med [Internet]. 2012;87:603-9.
9. Nelson JS, Range LM, Ross MB. A checklist to guide graduate students' writing. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education [Internet]. 2012;24:376-82.

The Perils of Clinical Pearls

by Kimberley Harris, PharmD, BCPS, PGY2 Critical Care Pharmacy Practice Resident, University of Maryland

Picture this situation: you’re standing on rounds listening to the attending physician relate anecdotes about patients similar to the one being discussed and something catches your attention.  So you quickly write down this pearl of wisdom hoping you’ll remember it in the future.  I’ve kept a running list of these teaching points for nearly four years and have accrued an 80-page word document filled with “interesting thoughts to remember for later.”  But what have I collected exactly?  Could some of those teaching points contradict each other?  How will I retrieve a point written years ago and reliably use it in a clinical situation if I cannot remember its source or attest to its validity?

Clinical Pearls: Defined

The term “clinical pearl” is commonly used in medicine, but what are you truly getting when a someone uses the term?  Clinical pearls have been described as brief statements that are transmitted in a “catchy delivery style”, “generalizable to many patients”, “easy to remember”, and pithy “expert opinion.”^1,2  A clinical pearl is usually expressed by someone who is respected for having great knowledge about a topic through years of experience.²  Clinical pearls summarize key concepts and learners scramble to capture them.  However, from a teaching and learning perspective, these pearls lack certain important qualities.

The Dark Side of the Pearl

If clinical pearls are based on anecdotes and derived from personal experience, many (perhaps most) aren’t backed up by evidence.  And learning how to use evidence to make decisions is critically important in healthcare today.¹  Learners who rely on (and teachers who overuse) clinical pearls may hamper the development of critical thinking skills because they foster surface learning (which focuses on memory and recall).  Moreover, clinical pearls are hard to organize in a systematic way and do not require the learner to compare this new knowledge to prior knowledge.^1,3  For example, the acronym “MONA BASS” is commonly taught as a way to remember the medications that should be used to manage patients who present with acute coronary syndromes.  While this pearl may facilitate the learner’s ability to recall the recommended medications, it does not indicate which statin or dose would most benefit the patient, which medications reduce mortality, and which medications merely relieve symptoms.  A learner might forget that the “A” in BASS stands for “ACE inhibitor” (not “aspirin”) and that the second “S” stands for “salicylate”, a reminder to use aspirin … not any salicylate … and in some cases another antiplatelet agent would be a better choice.  So while MONA BASS is a helpful mnemonic, it only provides superficial clues about what the right course of action is and can easily be misinterpreted.

While a pearl can be useful in situations when data is lacking, they ideally should be paired with evidence in order to promote deep learning.  This type of learning focuses on problem solving, comparison of new knowledge with previous knowledge, and a search for truthfulness in the information that is presented.³   The following are a few strategies that teachers can employ to promote analytical thinking and avoid using the pearl as a sole teaching strategy. 

Facilitating Critical Thinking with Pearls

The One Minute Preceptor: This model was developed to efficiently and effectively teach in an experiential environment.  It uses a strategy which combines the Socratic method of questioning with constructive feedback and one minute of didactic instruction.  During these brief encounters, the preceptor discusses the general principles (or perhaps deliver a clinical pearl).⁴  By “gaining a commitment” from the learner and “probing for supporting evidence” via directed questioning, this facilitates the development of critical thinking skills.⁴  Using this Socratic-style of questioning, the teacher guides the students’ thought process to lead them through the clinical assessment.  Moreover, students do the majority of the talking.³  Once the students have realized the “big picture”, the clinical pearl is then used to summarize the key point(s).  The clinical pearl is now linked to a thought process related to a specific situation that the learner has experienced rather than rote memorization of a fact.

Link Pearls to Evidence: Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) is perhaps the antithesis of a clinical pearl.  It relies on available scientific evidence to make decisions for an individual patient.²  Critical thinking skills are necessary when applying EBM because the clinician must determine the quality of evidence and decide if the findings apply to the patient based on the population enrolled in the study.  However, EBM is not always useful, especially when the available evidence can’t be applied to the specific clinical situation at hand.  Ideally, EBM should integrate research findings with clinical experience to arrive at a decision that applies to the patient’s unique characteristics and situation.⁵  Since pearls are based on experience, they can be useful because they summarize the collective wisdom and expert opinion.¹ This is particularly important when EBM does not exist for a specific situation.  However, analytical skills are necessary to realize when an expert opinion is appropriate.  Pearls can be used as a way to introduce the learner to the application of EBM.¹  Back to our example, after introducing the “MONA BASS” pearl, a teacher could link the acronym to the guideline recommendations.   To then facilitate deep learning, students can use this foundation to critically examine the literature that supports the guideline recommendations.  This will help develop a connection between the surface message of the pearl and the deeper meaning behind it.

See the Pearl in a New Light

Clinic pearls alone do not provide the decision-making skills necessary to take prior knowledge and apply it to new situations.  Now, four years into my career, I can take my 80-pages of teaching points and erase half of them — not because I have memorized those facts/statistics/pearls, but because I now have the deep learning and critical thinking skills that give meaning to them.

References:

1. Lorin ML, Palazzi DL, Turner TL, Ward MA. What is a clinical pearl and what is its role in medical education? Medical Teacher 2008;30:870-4.

2. Mangrulkar RS, Saint S, Chu S, Tierner LM. What is the role of the clinical “pearl”? Am J Med 2002;113:617-24.

3. Harasym PH, Tsai T, Hemmati P. Current trends in developing medical students’ critical thinking abilities.  Kaohsiung J Med Sci 2008;24:341-55. 

4. Neher JO, Gordon KC, Meyer B, Stevens N. A five-step “microskills” model of clinical teaching. J Am Board Fam Pract. 1992;5(4):419-424.

5. Straus SE, Richardson WS, Glasziou P, Haynes BH. Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM, 3rd ed. Elsevier Churchill Livingstone. p. 1. 

Danger Zone: Failure Ahead

by Elaine Yip, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic

John is a student in your class.  He has several unexplained absences, is unable to follow along during topic discussions, and has not turned in several assignments.  The end of the semester is approaching.  What should you do?  Wait for John to approach you for help? Give him a grade that is just enough to pass at the end of the year?  Fail him?

Luckily, I have not yet been confronted with this situation. However, as I engage in more teaching and supervise students during advanced practice experiences, I know that, sooner or later, I will be faced with this unfortunate and uncomfortable situation.  I am afraid that when that moment comes, I will not be prepared to handle it appropriately and will ultimately end up doing a great disservice to the student. I know that I am not alone in this fear.  In a survey of nursing student preceptors, approximately 18% reported a lack of confidence when dealing with and failing a student who was not performing well.¹  I have often wondered, what is the best course of action when it seems that a student is headed in the wrong direction or faces a real danger of failing?

In order to appropriately address the situation, we must differentiate between the types of failing students we may encounter. There are “actively” failing students who usually attend class, take notes, complete assignments, and participate in learning activities.² Despite this, they are still having a difficult time with the material. Thankfully, these are the students you tend to proactively seek assistance. The story can be quite different when dealing with “passively” failing students, like John. These are the students who skip class, don’t turn in assignments, and are not engaged in the learning process.  Most often, these are the more difficult students to work with as they may not be as receptive towards efforts to help.

Once you have identified which category the student falls into, it is important to understand the specifics about why that student is struggling. Whether it may be poor study habits, difficulty juggling multiple priorities, test anxiety, or other extenuating circumstances (such a learning disability or a mental health problem), each student should be evaluated on a case by case basis. In her study looking at nursing students who failed their clinical experiences, Duffy identifies common reasons including poor communication, lack of interest in the learning experience, persistent lateness, and lack of insight into professional boundaries.³

What strategies may be helpful in preventing students from falling into that danger zone in the first place^2,3,4? Course design, clarity of communication, and including more active learning in a course seems to be helpful. One study looking at failure rates in introductory science courses showed that highly structured course a that incorporated active learning activities had lower failure rates when compared to a less structured course that was taught primarily by lecturing.⁴  The failure rate dropped from 18.2% in the low-structure course to 6.3% in the high-structure course.  Here are some things you can do:

• Create a syllabus and set clear objectives: This conveys expectations and helps students understand exactly what they are held accountable for.
• Perform an audience analysis: Identify the needs of the students. Take into consideration how far along they are in their training.  Is your level of expectations consistent with what they should reasonably be expected to do?
• Use the Socratic Method:  Students are regularly engaged in answering questions and learn from the resulting discussion rather than simply being handed the information.
• Use ungraded, active learning exercises: Ungraded sample exam questions, case studies and in-class demonstrations can help students digest and discuss what they have just learned. It allows room for error and the discovery of weaknesses without the pressure of a grade.
• Use clicker/polling questions: These provide a helpful way to gauge audience understanding throughout the learning process. It enables the teacher to identify knowledge gaps early on that need extra review rather than wait until exam time.
• Implement a weekly class summary assignment: Have students write down what they think was the most important concept introduced that week and at least one question they have about the material.
• Provide frequent quizzes: This forces students to pace themselves and keep up with course content over the course of the semester rather than falling victim to procrastination.  Start quizzing early to identify students who are struggling and at risk for failing.

What if a student is already heading into the danger zone, like John? What can be done to get them back on track^2,5,6

• Talk to the student and do it early! Note your concerns and ask them if there is anything that can be done to help.
• Develop an action plan. Include the student’s input. The plan should include the instructor and the student’s roles to resolve the situation. Together, decide what reasonable and measurable outcomes would represent improvement.
• Schedule times for regular and constructive feedback.  The “sandwich method” can be used to help deliver negative feedback by first highlighting something the student has done well, then moving on to areas of improvement, and then ending with more positive feedback.  Feedback should not only occur when something is wrong.  Positive feedback will improve the student’s confidence and encourage continuation of that specific behavior.
• Perform regular self-assessments. This can be done formally in writing or as a discussion. The student should be asked to evaluate themselves on their performance and progress.
• Document, document, document. Make note of all of these interactions with the student and efforts made so far to resolve the situation.

Unfortunately, there will be some students who will not make any effort to acknowledge and act on your feedback. In these circumstances, you will need to make that difficult decision to fail a student.  Hopefully, by implementing these strategies, failures will be a rare occurrence.  If I’m ever faced with that decision, I will know that I have given it my best effort.

References:

1.  Heaslip V, Scammell JM. Failing underperforming students: the role of grading in practice assessment. Nurse Educ Pract. 2012 Mar;12(2):95-100.

2.  Buskist, W., & Howard, C. Helping Failing Students: Part 1. Association for Psychological Science RSS.  Accessed on January 24, 2014.

3.  Duffy, K. Failing students: a qualitative study of factors that influence the decisions regarding assessment of students’ competence in practice. University of Ulster. Accessed on January 24, 2014.

4.  Freeman, S, Haak D, Wenderoth M.  Increased Course Structure Improves Performance in Introductory Biology. CBE-Life Sciences Education. 2001:10:175-186.

5.  Buskist, W., & Howard, C.  Helping Failing Students: Part 2. Association for Psychological Science RSS.  Accessed on January 25, 2014.
6.  Ideas When a Student Has Difficulty: Understanding the Failing or Weak Student. Philadelphia University. Accessed on January 24, 2014.