Faculty development for hospitalists: structured peer observation of teaching

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Internal Medicine
• Faculty Development

Background:

• Hospitalists are central to clinical teaching in internal medicine.
• Formative feedback for hospitalist educators is currently limited, hindering teaching quality improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a peer observation, assessment, and feedback program for attending hospitalists.
• To enhance the teaching efficacy and confidence of hospitalist educators.

Main Methods:

• A year-long peer feedback program was implemented, involving structured observation of teaching behaviors.
• Participants were trained using a tool based on the Stanford Faculty Development Program clinical teaching framework.
• Pre- and post-program surveys assessed confidence, teaching behaviors, feedback skills, and program satisfaction.

Main Results:

• Fifteen of 22 participating hospitalists completed the program and surveys.
• Significant increases were observed in confidence regarding assessing colleagues' teaching skills (P < .01) and giving feedback (P < .01).
• Confidence in overall teaching ability also improved significantly (P = .026).

Conclusions:

• Peer observation and feedback effectively enhance hospitalist confidence in key teaching-related domains.
• The program shows promise for optimizing clinical teaching within internal medicine.
• Further research is warranted to determine the impact on actual educational outcomes.