DOUGHNUT ROUNDS - A SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING APPROACH TO TEACHING CRITICAL CARE IN SURGERY

In light of medical students and residents becoming more knowledgeable and vocal in their evaluation of traditional clinical teaching method s, a number of innovative approaches have been tried in our program. W e examined a self-directed learning approach to teaching critical care in surgery, known locally as 'Doughnut Rounds', which involve four to seven medical students and/or residents during their surgical intensi ve care unit (SICU) rotation. They choose the reading material as a gr oup and are expected to formulate 12 questions based on the week's rea dings. They pose these questions to their colleagues in a 'game show' format. In this scenario, the attending surgeon has only to bring the doughnuts and to act as a moderator during the session. Several weeks following the end of their three-month ICU rotation, 25 students were sent a questionnaire. It was designed to reflect their degree of satis faction with Doughnut Rounds and their perception of the importance of various components of these reaching sessions. An ordinal scale from 1 to 5 was used. Averages and standard deviations were calculated far each guestion and for the overall impression of each respondent, Every aspect asked about on the questionnaire was ranked positively. Doughn ut Rounds has thus successfully stimulated students to read think and actively participate in the learning process. It is hoped that the suc cess of Doughnut Rounds will encourage others to experiment with this teaching method.