Finding the right balance: 3 ways to engage millennial radiology trainees

To engage millennial radiology trainees, educators need to pay special attention to their unique learning patterns, according to a new study in Academic Radiology.

Millennials—a term typically used to describe individuals born between the years 1982 and 2001—might surround themselves with technology and crave active engagement, but the authors noted that educators sometimes go too far when trying to accommodate these young students in the classroom.

“An overemphasis on technology without considering the millennial learning pattern can backfire,” wrote authors Po-Hao Chen, MD, MBA, and Mary H. Scanlon, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “Increasing data show teaching the millennial learner is more than deploying as many of these novel approaches and technology as possible.” 

These are three ways the authors suggest educators in radiology can engage millennial trainees:

1. Set specific goals

Millennials are often confident in their own abilities and set high standards for themselves—which can work both in their favor and against them. Setting specific goals can help leaders be prepared for this dynamic.

“In a meta-analysis of survey studies focused on the millennial generation, researchers find that the higher assertiveness and self-expectations of this age group come at the cost of a larger gap between the expectation of achievement and the effort necessary to achieve it,” the authors wrote. “Therefore, explicit goal-setting may be valuable in focusing the stress of learning radiology onto specific tasks and in bridging the gap between expectations and competency.”

Chen and Scanlon provided examples of such goal-setting. After the first rotation through body CT, for example, trainee goals include selecting the protocols for 360 CT examinations and completing a quiz on contrast reaction.

2. Give formative feedback

Summative feedback provides trainees with an overall assessment of their performance through quarterly or semiannual reviews, the authors explained, but formative feedback provides trainees with “ongoing guidance through each rotation.”

“The use of formative feedback has received attention in medical school education for modern students,” the authors wrote. “Although individual members of the millennial generation vary widely, formative feedback may be overall more receptive for the millennial radiology trainee whose generation is characterized as simultaneously having not only high self-expectations but also higher stress and anxiety.”

Chen and Scanlon added that, at their own facility, trainees expressed how much they appreciated formative feedback. “I think the daily interactions we have with the attendings is the best and most important opportunity,” one resident reported. Another resident wrote in positive terms about being told by an attending that they were doing a good job. When past generations were in medical school, such feedback may have been much more rare, but it can have a significant impact on millennials as they work toward their goals.  

3. Encourage self-development

Millennial students like to develop independently, and they can benefit from being encouraged to do so. For example, clinical residents receive an average of one academic half-day each week, and research residents receive at least two weeks for “uninterrupted research time” each of their first three years. “Residents have used their academic time to develop radiology-related skill sets in scientific research, teaching, quality improvement, information technology, and leadership,” the authors wrote.