Teaching advocacy in resident education

Background: Physicians provide expert information on health, health care, a nd healthy lifestyles-they are health advocates to peers and communities. P reparing physicians to identify issues and to develop, support, and present advocacy positions should be part of resident education. Description: A program at East Carolina University requires residents to le arn advocacy skills by selecting a topic, developing a position using suppo rting information, and making a persuasive presentation-complete with audio visual elements-to peer or consumer audiences. Development of these "profes sionalization" skills is continued throughout the 3 years of resident train ing. Evaluation: Peer evaluation is used to give feedback to the resident follow ing his or her respective advocacy presentations. Individual program sessio ns are evaluated with a questionnaire used in all teaching sessions in the residency. The response has been very favorable. The overall program effect iveness, although not formally measured, has been observed through a marked increase in community involvement by the residents. Conclusion: These exercises have proven to be an effective tool for develop ing advocacy awareness and improving presentation skills of future Family P hysicians.