title: To be and to have a critical friend in medical teaching.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In order to stimulate reflection and continuous professional development, a model of critical friends evaluating each other was introduced in medical education.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether the critical friend concept can serve as a pragmatic model for evaluation of medical teachers and as a fruitful tool for enhancing self-knowledge and professional development among medical educators.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three pairs of critical friends were formed, consisting of experienced medical teachers (n = 6) at the Karolinska Institutet. Each teacher was assigned to give 1 lecture and 1 seminar in his or her specific research or clinical field. The critical friend evaluated the performance in class, acting as an observer using a pre-formed protocol. The evaluation was communicated to the teacher during a 45-minute session within 48 hours after the teaching session. Each of the 6 teachers was criticised and gave criticism within the pair configurance. The outcome of the process was evaluated by an experimenter, not participating in the process, who performed a semistructured interview with each of the 6 teachers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Each teacher had a different way of reflecting on teaching after the project than before and made changes in his or her way of teaching. We also noted that being a critical friend may be even more effective than having one. The majority of the feedback provided was positive and valuable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To be and to have a critical friend is worth the extra workload. Therefore, the critical friend concept should be made part of regular teaching practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioural Sciences, Linköpings Universitet, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars Owe
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Dahlgren
authors.forename: Björn E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gyllenhammar
authors.forename: Maarit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korkeila
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sääf-Rothoff
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wernerson
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seeberger
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005246:Feedback; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs; D013192:Staff Development; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*