This article in the To the Point series will focus on best practices regarding faculty development in medical education in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. Faculty development is an essential component in achieving teacher and learner satisfaction as well as improving learner outcomes. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education requires medical school faculty to have the capability and longitudinal commitment to be effective teachers. Although many programs have been created to address faculty development, there remains a paucity of literature documenting the impact of these programs on learner outcomes. We reviewed the qualities of an excellent medical educator, expectations regarding medical school teaching faculty, elements of comprehensive faculty development programs, and outcome measures for evaluating the effectiveness of these programs.
This article, part of the ongoing To the Point: Medical Education Reviews series produced by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) Undergraduate Medical Education Committee (UMEC), reviews the literature and discusses best practices regarding faculty development in medical education with a special focus on faculty development within the field of obstetrics and gynecology.
Although most faculty learned to teach by observing their teachers and mentors, formal training in educational methods has been absent in the curriculum of most training programs until recently. Recognizing this deficit in formal training, medical education organizations over the past 2 decades have designed numerous train-the-trainer opportunities, yet there remains a need to reach out to more faculty than the self-selected few who regularly attend these well-designed programs. Many descriptive articles have been written about faculty development curricula, satisfaction of the participating faculty, and self-reported change in teaching behaviors as a result of participation.
The international group, Best Evidence in Medical Education Collaboration, published a systematic review of faculty development initiatives seeking evidence that these programs supported outcomes beyond participant satisfaction. Yet there remains a paucity of higher-level evidence documenting the effect of comprehensive faculty development programs on learners’ outcomes. Evidence-based methodology in faculty development exists more in the realm of individual skills and behaviors, rather than evaluation of comprehensive faculty development curricula.
The purposes of this article was the following: (1) define the qualities of an excellent medical educator, (2) discuss expectations of medical school faculty teaching, (3) review the elements of a comprehensive faculty development program, and (4) suggest possible outcome measures for the evaluation of such programs.
Defining the qualities of an excellent medical educator
The qualities and skills of an excellent medical educator have been outlined in existing faculty development literature. In 2008, Rogers described faculty and learner definitions of an effective teacher titled, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Medical Educators, as Table 1 describes (excerpt with permission from R. L. Rogers’ lecture given at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine). Academic medical faculty defined effective teachers as good role models, showing respect for learners, having enthusiasm for teaching, and admitting to their knowledge and skill limitations.
| Knowledge of educational theory Use of clinical teaching microskills Finds teachable moments Good listening skills Teaches at the learner’s level of understanding |
| Excited about the topic Inspiring |
| Timely Appropriate setting Objective Allows for self evaluation |
| Tailoring the teaching to the learner Addresses specific learning needs Adequate observation and supervision |
| Explains actions to the learner Makes difficult concepts easy to understand Points out errors without ridiculing Emphasizes concepts |
| Stimulates independent thinking Allows enough time to generate an answer Promote life-long learning skills |
| Demonstrates critical behaviors and skills Life-long learning Collaboration and communication skills Mentorship |
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