REBEL MIND – The One-Minute Preceptor: Making Every Patient Encounter a Teaching Opportunity

• The One-Minute Preceptor can be used during nearly every patient encounter, helping overcome the common barrier of “when do I have time to teach?”
  
  
•   Focus on delivering one high-yield teaching pearl rather than overwhelming learners with too much information.
  
  
• Provide real-time feedback by reinforcing what was done well while also addressing areas for improvement.
  
  
• Designed for the fast-paced ED or ICU environment, the One-Minute Preceptor can often be completed in about 60 seconds.

Welcome back to Rebel MIND, the podcast where we sharpen the person behind the practitioner. MIND stands for Mastering Internal Negativity during Difficulty. This series emphasizes productivity, provider performance, and team optimization to ensure we are at our best during high-pressure situations. 

Your brand-new intern sprints over, wide-eyed and enthusiastic, ready to present their patient in a way that somehow includes every detail except the important ones. Just as you start mentally reorganizing the story, they ask, “Any feedback?” The ED is slammed, your phone is ringing, and three tasks are already overdue. This is exactly where the One-Minute Preceptor shines.

A new group of interns has arrived, and with them comes one of the greatest challenges in emergency medicine: trying to teach while the ED is on fire. One of the most common barriers to teaching in the emergency department is the feeling that there simply is not enough time.

Between overcrowding, documentation, interruptions, task switching, and managing critically ill patients, bedside teaching can quickly fall to the bottom of the priority list. Over time, this has contributed to a steady decline in bedside teaching across medical education.1

At the same time, the ED remains one of the richest learning environments in medicine. The combination of undifferentiated patients, high-acuity pathology, rapid decision-making, and constant clinical exposure creates countless opportunities for teaching… if we can find efficient ways to do it.2

Originally described as a learner-centered model for efficient clinical teaching, the One-Minute Preceptor uses five microskills to structure brief but meaningful teaching interactions around real patient encounters. Importantly, the goal is not to teach in literally one minute, but rather to create teaching conversations that are focused, efficient, and practical for busy clinical settings like the ED.3

How can we provide meaningful bedside teaching in a busy emergency department?

The One-Minute Preceptor uses five microskills to structure efficient bedside teaching conversations:

1. Get a commitment from the learner 
2. Probe for supporting evidence 
3. Teach a brief general principle
4. Reinforce what was done well
5. Correct mistakes in real time

The One-Minute Preceptor works because it transforms learners from passive observers into active participants in clinical reasoning. Instead of immediately giving answers, the framework asks learners to commit to a diagnosis and explain their thought process.

This not only promotes clinical reasoning, but also allows teachers to quickly identify knowledge gaps, deliver focused teaching pearls, and provide real-time feedback, all while keeping the interaction brief enough for a busy ED shift.3

1. Get a commitment from your learner
   • “What do you think is going on with this patient complaining of dizziness?” 
2. Probe for supporting evidence
   • “What findings led you to the diagnosis of vertigo?”
3. Teach a brief, general principle 
   • “Ongoing debilitating dizziness or severe gait instability should always raise concern for a central cause”
4. Reinforce what was done right
   •  “You did a great job attempting to ambulate the patient and performing a focused neurologic exam.”
5. Correct errors 
   • “Don’t forget to include cerebellar testing, such as finger-to-nose and heel-to-shin, when evaluating dizziness.”

If you want to see the framework in action, this LEGO Surgery video does a great job demonstrating the One-Minute Preceptor in a quick and memorable way.

• Turning the interaction into an interrogation

• • • Questions should feel collaborative rather than punitive. The goal is to explore the learner’s clinical reasoning, not embarrass them in front of the team. Thoughtful language and psychological safety are essential for effective bedside teaching.
    • Pay attention to your tone. Even well-intentioned questions can feel confrontational if delivered with frustration, sarcasm, or impatience.
    • Be mindful of your body language. Looking rushed, distracted, or frustrated may unintentionally discourage learner participation.

• Teaching too many pearls

• • • Do not overwhelm learners with excessive teaching points during a busy shift. Cognitive overload decreases retention and can make important pearls easier to forget.
    • Keep teaching pearls brief and simple. If you have trouble remembering the pearl you’re trying to teach, chances are your learner will too.

• Skipping feedback or not being specific enough 

• • • Specific feedback is far more actionable than generic praise. Learners benefit most when they understand exactly what they did well and what they can improve upon.
    • Avoid sugarcoating important feedback simply to maintain rapport. Learners deserve honest, constructive guidance that helps them grow.
    • At the same time, avoid focusing on minor issues that are unlikely to impact patient care or clinical reasoning. Prioritize feedback that is meaningful and actionable while allowing learners to independently explore lower-priority topics.

• Teaching above the learner’s level

• • Tailor the teaching pearl to the learner, not just the patient. A medical student and senior resident may require very different teaching conversations from the same case.

The One-Minute Preceptor is a learner-centered framework that uses five microskills to structure efficient bedside teaching conversations: getting a commitment, probing for supporting evidence, teaching a general principle, reinforcing strengths, and correcting mistakes in real time. By encouraging learners to commit to a diagnosis and explain their reasoning, it transforms routine patient encounters into opportunities for teaching and feedback.

The One-Minute Preceptor isn’t just a time-saver; it’s a culture-shifter. In a busy ED, teaching opportunities are easy to miss, but every patient encounter has the potential to strengthen a learner’s clinical reasoning. Commit to using this framework during your next shift and you’ll quickly realize that effective bedside teaching doesn’t require extra time—it requires intention. Over time, what initially feels deliberate becomes habit, making high-quality bedside teaching a natural part of every shift.

Post Peer Reviewed By: Mark Ramzy, DO (X/IG: @MRamzyDO)

1. Aldeen AZ, Gisondi MA.
   Bedside teaching in the emergency department.
   Acad Emerg Med. 2006;13(8):860-866.
   PMID: 16766739
   
   
2. Wald DA.
   Teaching techniques in the clinical setting: the emergency medicine perspective.
   Acad Emerg Med. 2004;11(10):1028.e1-1028.e8.
   Link is Here
   
   
3. Farrell SE, et al.  
   What’s the Evidence: A Review of the One-Minute Preceptor Model of Clinical Teaching and Implications for Teaching in the Emergency Department.
   J Emerg Med. 2016
   PMID: 27377967
   
   
4. Dowhos K, Chin A.
   Teaching That Counts: The One-Minute Preceptor Model.
   CanadiEM. Published September 27, 2019.
   Link is Here
   
   
5. Surgery 101.
   LEGO Surgery: One-Minute Preceptor.
   YouTube. Published August 17, 2016. Accessed March 20, 2026.
   Watch the Full Video Here