The Curiosity Mindset: Impacting Your Learners in the Classroom and the Clinic

One patient, born with a congenital abnormality. Two operations, 10 years apart. Two negative outcomes.

Cared for by two different surgeons, both guided by their professional training and expertise, this patient encountered surprisingly similar issues - both clinicians missing key information which would have made a difference.

What can be learned?

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Learners who engage in our CE programs are expert students – through many years of competitive and rigorous education, they have developed highly effective strategies for learning efficiently and analytically. They are rewarded for comprehensive knowledge, sharp reasoning, and quick pattern recognition, all necessary skills in both training and clinical settings.

As CE providers, we strive to honor their time and expertise with quality content, expert faculty, and effective learning design. But what if we have the opportunity to lead, to not only affect WHAT they learn but also HOW they learn it? What if we can foster curiosity in our learners and change how they learn as clinicians? And what if that “curiosity mindset” has the power to impact the care they provide to patients?

This session will explore this potential – how medical education is positioned to empower learners to approach all learning with a curiosity, whether they are in the classroom or the clinic. The session will provide an overview of research regarding the impact of curiosity on learning and within medical education, including a patient perspective on being born with a congenital abnormality and how a LACK of curiosity may have negatively impact clinical care. (~15 minutes).

The panel will then provide perspectives from a variety of CME provider types, including a medical specialty society, a medical education company, and an academic medical center. The panel will also include a senior clinician educator who will provide perspectives of how curiosity is fostered in both the GME and CME settings. Through these panel discussions (~30 minutes), we will explore a variety of practices which can nurture curiosity in medical education, as well as common CE methods which may inhibit inquisitiveness in our learners. These strategies will be organized in common themes, such as educational design, faculty development/training, and learning climates. Specific cases from the panelists will be explored, to illustrate concrete examples of how this is integrated into current CE programs.

During the session, learners will be provided the opportunity to self-reflect and discuss with their colleagues how these concepts can be applied to their own CE activities and program, with faculty facilitating a review of ideas from the group (~15 minutes). “Flip the Script” strategies will be provided for learners as a take-home tool to identify how common practices can be adjusted to maximize curiosity in our CE learners.

Through content-based questions, discussions with colleagues, and self-reflection opportunities, learners will utilize the strategies and tools shared through this session to 1) identify clinical care strategies which demonstrate a mindset of curiosity, 2) give examples of how medical education can foster curiosity in learners, and 3) assess opportunities for supporting curiosity in learners within their CME programs.

Learners will be invited to review Curiosity and medical education prior to the session as a foundational resource (Dyche L, Epstein RM. Curiosity and medical education. Med Educ. 2011:45(7):663-668.) and will be provided resources for further learning.

Innovation: NA