Purpose

A clinical instructor is an experienced practitioner who provides supervision during clinical practice and facilitates the application of theory to practice for students and staff learners. They assist the learner by setting expectations, providing effective feedback about their performance, and providing appropriate opportunities to meet their learning objectives.

Des Moines University is supportive of healthcare providers who choose to actively participate in the education of our students by offering excellent clinical training opportunities. Clinical instructors not only transmit skills but are mentors who convey the core values important to Des Moines University: accountability, collaboration, honesty, inclusiveness, and wellness. 

Clinical instructors do what no textbook or classroom can accomplish. As a result, the students benefit from the community-based experience, while preceptors benefit from integrating new ideas and techniques into their practices currently taught in academic health sciences institutions. Join us for a series of educational opportunities which provide precepting pearls to aid in shaping the next generation of clinicians.

Learning Objectives

1. Define the core components of the educational alliance between the learner and the clinical instructor.
2. Discuss the role of self-assessment in the formative feedback dialogue.
3. Compare and contrast real-time written feedback to assess best practices for formative feedback.
4. Collate key points to guide written feedback practices for formative and summative feedback.

Speaker

Alice Fornari, EdD, FAMEE, RDN, HEC-C

Dr. Fornari is a Science Education, Occupational Health, and Family Medicine professor. She is an Associate Dean of Educational Skills Development at Zucker SOM (ZSOM) and is the Vice President of Faculty Development for the 23 hospitals of Northwell Health. Her faculty development role at both institutions is designed to align the UME, GME, and CPD continuum. In June 2021, she received from IAMSE the Distinguished Career Award for Excellence in Teaching and Educational Scholarship. In May 2022, she was awarded the Association of American Medical Colleges/Northeast Group of Educational Affairs 2022 NEGEA Distinguished Educator Award.  

Recognizing a need for additional faculty development to align UME and GME education, in 2016, she created and admitted the inaugural cohort to a Master of Health Professions Education (MSED) degree program. As Program Director, she supports high-level faculty development for interprofessional educators who desire an advanced degree in education. 

She has developed and implemented longitudinal professional development opportunities for faculty. In 2021, she launched “Just in Time Teaching TIPS" (JiTTs) Infographic App as a new free open, access faculty development resource. In addition, she oversees longitudinal workshop series entitled “Learning Drives Teaching and Assessment,” “Educational Research Skills Development,” and “Chief Resident: Leading, Managing, and Mentoring.” Since 2014, she has implemented an interactive online monthly medical education journal club to create a system-wide platform to discuss evidenced-based medical education literature. In 2015, she co-edited her first IAMSE Manual entitled How-To Guide for Active Learning.

An interest in health humanities and reflective practice has supported the successful implementation of the health humanities curriculum at ZSOM and Northwell Health. This focus supports an AAMC/NEGEA SIG on Health Humanities as a Teaching and Learning Strategy.

Since 2014, she's led a longitudinal interprofessional development program, Mentoring and Professionalism in Training (MAP-IT), that focuses on developing mentoring skills in clinicians to achieve humanistic relationships with trainees, colleagues, and ultimately patients across the continuum. In 2021, she was the co-editor of her second IAMSE Manual, Mentoring in Health Professions Education: Evidence-Informed Strategies. 

Dr. Fornari obtained her EdD in Higher Education, College Teaching, and Academic Leadership at Columbia University, Teachers College, in 2001. Her research interest was focused on curriculum to support ethical decision-making for healthcare professionals. Her interest in ethics education has continued, and she obtained a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Bioethics from Hofstra University in 2018. In 2021, she received certification as a Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified (HEC-C).