Regional teaching improvement programs for community-based teachers.
OBJECTIVE
Community-based clinical teachers provide an important cadre of faculty for medical education. This study was designed to examine the feasibility and value of an American College of Physicians-sponsored regional teaching improvement program for community-based teachers.


METHODS
We conducted five regional (Connecticut, New Hampshire/Vermont, New York, Ohio, and Virginia) 1- to 2-day teaching-improvement workshops for 282 faculty (49% community based, 51% university based). The workshops were conducted by regional facilitators trained by the Stanford Faculty Development Program using large group and small group instructional methods to teach participants a framework for analyzing teaching, to increase their repertoire of teaching behaviors, to define personal teaching goals, and to identify the educational needs of their teaching site. Participants used Likert ratings [1 (low) to 5 (high) scale] to assess workshop quality, facilitator effectiveness, and rewards for and barriers to teaching in their clinics. Using retrospective pre- and postintervention ratings, participants also assessed workshop impacts on teacher knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Finally, participants completed open-ended questions to identify recommended changes to improve their clinic as an educational site for students and residents.


RESULTS
At all sites, participants evaluated the program as highly useful (4.6 +/- 0.6, mean +/- SD). Participants' ratings indicated that the program had a positive effect on their knowledge of teaching principles (4.0 +/- 0.9), an increase in their teaching ability (P <0.001), and an increase in their sense of integration with their affiliated institution (P <0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Regional training of university and community faculty can be an effective way of promoting the improvement of teaching and the collaboration between community-based teachers and academic centers. National physician organizations and regionally based facilitators can provide important resources for the delivery of such training.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004493:Education; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce