DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001304
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PMID: 27576038
Issn Print: 1040-2446
Publication Date: 2016/09/01
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Excerpt
First, Knowles,2 in his classic book The Adult Learner, addresses the “learning environment” in his chapter on the theory of teaching, which is characterized by two major subsections: (1) the physical environment and how comfortable that is for maximum learning; and (2) what the teacher can do to establish mutual trust and respect by being accepting, open, and empathic using “I” statements, among other traits. Interesting that the learning environment—an important issue for the way it influences teaching and learning—is not even referenced in the book’s index!
Second, the concept of the learning environment in the medical education literature was not stressed until Skeff’s3 article in the late 1980s. Today there is a plethora of information on this topic. As faculty, there is so much we can do to establish a safe learning environment, even before we ever encounter a trainee in the clinical setting. Examples would be e-mailing the trainees and welcoming them to the service, highlighting some of the important objectives, roles, and responsibilities they will be encountering.4 These can then be reinforced in an interactive short orientation, emphasized with guidelines posted online. Knowles2 suggested having a learning contract with trainees so that their goals for the rotation were clear and that they would think proactively about what they wanted to glean from the rotation. These principles need to permeate the process of how faculty interact with trainees in order to lay the groundwork for a safe learning environment.
