title: Initial experience with a multi-station objective structured teaching skills evaluation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the applicability of using an objective structured evaluation to assess community preceptors' teaching performances.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors developed and, in 1996, administered an objective structured teaching evaluation (OSTE) at the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine. They compared assessments of teaching skills made by faculty observers and standardized students, and examined instrument reliability, realism, and utility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reliabilities of the OSTE varied with individual stations but, in several instances, approached acceptable standards. Faculty observers' and standardized students' evaluations of preceptors' performances were similar. Participants' feedback indicated that the greatest OSTE-related benefit was derived by the faculty observers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An OSTE that reflects realistic teaching situations can be successfully developed. Objective structured evaluation can be successfully applied to assessing faculty teaching performance. However, it may be no more discriminating than are student evaluations. An OSTE's utility may be greatest in guiding faculty development initiatives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Orange 92868-3298, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Prislin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giglio
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lie
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Radecki
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D002140:California; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000592:standards*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D011231:Preceptorship / Q000592:standards; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*