title: Training the trainers: beyond providing a well-received course.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Royal College of General Practitioners in partnership with the South African Academy of Family Physicians obtained funding to run a series of 'Training the Trainers' courses for trainers of family medicine registrars, with a view to strengthening clinical supervision of postgraduate registrars. The authors wanted to establish whether it was worthwhile for the course to be provided on an ongoing basis after the funded project was completed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Development of a pilot tool for evaluation visits after a faculty development course.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors developed a pre-visit pack and conducted five site visits to registrar trainers who had been on the course between 12 and 24 months earlier. Before the series of visits and after each visit we debriefed and modified our approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Optimising the use of the pre-visit pack will require greater orientation of the trainer. Administrative support for the visits will be vital. The visits were experienced very positively. However, in a context in which these visits are not the norm, the trainers need support and encouragement to participate in an activity which made them feel quite vulnerable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The tool enabled course participants to show evidence of their behaviour change, enabled their colleagues to report on the impact on their own teaching practices, and enabled registrars to voice their opinions of their trainer's supervision skills. A post-course formative evaluation visit has the potential to catalyse the impact of the training course. It will be necessary to train the family physicians who conduct these visits.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care , Stellenbosch University , Cape Town , South Africa.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blitz
authors.affiliation: b Department of Primary Care Health Sciences , Oxford University , Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: a Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care , Stellenbosch University , Cape Town , South Africa.
authors.forename: Bob
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mash
authors.affiliation: c Royal College of General Practitioners , London , UK.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mowle
mesh_terms: D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013019:South Africa; D013663:Teaching
keywords: Faculty development; South Africa; evaluation; family physician