Effective clinical education: strategies for teaching medical students and residents in the office.

PROBLEM Educating medical students and residents in the office presents the challenges of providing quality medical care, maintaining efficiency, and incorporating meaningful education for learners. Numerous teaching strategies to address these challenges have been described in the medical educational literature, but only a few teaching strategies have been evaluated for their impact on education and office practice. METHODS Literature on the impact of office-based teaching strategies on educational outcomes and on office efficiency was selected from a Pub Med search, from review of references in retrieved articles, and from the author's personal files. RESULTS Two teaching strategies, "one-minute preceptor" (OMP) and "SNAPPS," have been shown to improve educational processes and outcomes. Two additional strategies, "Aunt Minnie" pattern recognition and "activated demonstration," show promise but have not been fully evaluated. None of these strategies has been shown to improve office efficiency. CONCLUSIONS OMP and SNAPPS are strategies that can be used in office precepting to improve educational processes and outcomes, while pattern recognition and activated demonstration show promise but need further assessment. Additional areas of research also are suggested.