Can a computerized tracking system improve faculty compliance with medical student evaluations?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Faculty evaluations are crucial for medical student assessment.
• Traditional paper-based systems often lead to low compliance rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based tracking system (PDAT) in improving faculty student evaluations.
• To assess the impact of e-mail reminders on PDAT's evaluation rate.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of faculty evaluation data.
• Comparison of evaluation rates using written cards, PDAT alone, and PDAT with e-mail reminders.
• Study conducted at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Main Results:

• PDAT use increased evaluation completion odds by 2.97 times compared to paper alone (p<0.0001).
• PDAT with e-mail reminders increased odds by 4.19 times (p<0.0001).
• The addition of e-mail reminders showed a positive trend but was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• PDAT significantly enhances faculty compliance with medical student evaluations.
• PDAT is an effective tool for improving faculty evaluation rates.
• While e-mail reminders showed promise, PDAT alone offers substantial improvement.