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Twin Palms Consulting & Publishing LLC

Professional Development

Expert guidance for professionals

Expert Guidance for Professionals

Professional Guidance with a Growth Mindset
Dr. Karen Ellinwood applies a growth mindset to all professional development activities. She has considerable experience and expertise in teaching in a wide variety of settings including at academic hospitals and other clinical settings.
Professional development services are available to educational programs, from K-12 to university or clinical settings, as well as professional businesses and include:
  • Professional coaching in leadership and communication skills*
  • Workshops for developing effective strategies for teamwork, communication and constructive feedback*
  • Online courses in educator and professional development
A Funds of Knowledge Approach
Dr. Ellinwood's approach to professional development is based in part on the funds of knowledge theory developed through the diligent interdisciplinary research of Dr. Luis C. Moll, Dr Velez-Ibanez and Dr. JB Greenberg and other experts in education and anthropology.
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Services Offered

Instructional Development
Live or online training for developing or enhancing strategies for teaching in a wide variety of educational settings from K-12 to clinical contexts. Direct support for learning how to create curriculum and integrate education technology.
Effective Communication
Professional development uses active learning to guide professionals in applying a therapeutic communication approach to improving communication strategies for productive team work.
Constructive Feedback
Live or online courses in how to engage learners, employees or colleagues in constructive feedback aimed at promoting reflective practice, using an evidence-based approach supported by decades of research.
*Services may be performed in person, as covid safety protocols permit, or online in real time.
Observation & Debriefing
Every shadow observation includes a debriefing in real time, which, generally, takes less than 15 minutes. This provides the observed professional with a chance to get helpful feedback and offer input on the process.
Observation, Debriefing & Report
If a report is requested, the process involves observation and debriefing as well as a written evaluation. This report includes:
  • a summary of observations, an evaluation with respect to professional standards for the specific profession
  • constructive feedback on what was done well and what might need improvement, and
  • specific strategies or other guidance on how to improve.
How much time is needed for observation?
Getting comfortable with being observed
Having someone closely observe you as you work can feel strange. After all, this is not how we work ordinarily. The key to effective professional development is taking enough time to get comfortable with being observed as well as making sure the observer understands the goals of the observation and the professional setting .
What determines the amount of time?
A variety of factors may determine how much time is necessary to offer a realistic assessment and constructive feedback. Having enough time to get comfortable so you can be yourself is critical to an accurate observation and feedback. The setting also affects how much time is needed. If there are many short term experiences, such as occurs in clinical settings, sufficient time should be allocated so that the various types of experiences may be observed.
Multiple observations
Multiple observations offer an opportunity for fair evaluation and to tailor constructive feedback to the professional within their unique setting. In some cases, four hours is sufficient while in other cases, more time is needed to develop an accurate sense of the breadth and depth of the professional's roles as well as their performance across contexts or with different groups of learners or supervisees.
Factors to Consider
How much observation time is needed depends on the:
  • purpose of consultation and observation
  • professional setting or clinical specialty
  • number of people or activities observed
  • number of observations
  • time needed to develop accurate sense of performance
Examples
  • Emergency Medicine - at least one 9-hour shifts when observing to give real-time feedback and multiple shadow shifts when doing a formal evaluation of performance (regarding communication or teaching and feedback skills).
  • Hospitalists - multiple observations on the various services in which the clinicians are involved
  • Surgery - at least one surgical shift (4-10 hours) when observing to give real-time feedback for how to engage the team or learners in the OR; may include multiple observations to cover and a clinical day to observe pre-op and post-op communication, or other aspects of teaching in academic medicine.

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