Teaching the teachers: National survey of faculty development in departments of medicine of U.S. teaching hospitals

Jeanne M. Clark, Thomas K. Houston, Ken Kolodner, William T. Branch, Rachel B. Levine, David E. Kern

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence, topics, methods, and intensity of ongoing faculty development (FD) in teaching skills. DESIGN: Mailed survey. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and seventy-seven of the 386 (72%) U.S. teaching hospitals with internal medicine residency programs. MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence and characteristics of ongoing FD. RESULTS: One hundred and eight teaching hospitals (39%) reported ongoing FD. Hospitals with a primary medical school affiliation (university hospitals) were more likely to have ongoing FD than nonuniversity hospitals. For nonuniverslty hospitals, funding from the Health Resources Services Administration and >50 house staff were associated with ongoing FD. For university hospitals, >100 department of medicine faculty was associated. Ongoing programs included a mean of 10.4 topics (standard deviation, 5.4). Most offered half-day workshops (80%), but 22% offered ≥1-month programs. Evaluations were predominantly limited to postcourse evaluations forms. Only 14% of the hospitals with ongoing FD (5% of all hospitals) had "advanced" programs, defined as offering ≥10 topics, lasting >2 days, and using ≥3 experiential teaching methods. These were significantly more likely to be university hospitals and to offer salary support and/or protected time to their FD instructors. Generalists and hospital-based faculty were more likely to receive training than subspecialist and community-based faulty. Factors facilitating participation in FD activities were supervisor attitudes, FD expertise, and institutional culture. CONCLUSIONS: A minority of U.S. teaching hospitals offer ongoing faculty development in teaching skills. Continued progress will likely require increased institutional commitment, improved evaluations, and adequate resources, particularly FD instructors and funding.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)205-214
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of general internal medicine
Volume19
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2004

Keywords

  • Faculty development
  • Survey
  • Teaching skills

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Internal Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Teaching the teachers: National survey of faculty development in departments of medicine of U.S. teaching hospitals'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this