Success of a Faculty Development Program for Teachers at the Mayo Clinic

There has been limited research on the improvement of underperforming clinical teachers.

To determine whether a faculty development program could improve the evaluations of clinical teachers in an internal medicine residency program.

A total of 123 teachers completed faculty development at the Mayo Clinic from 2009 to 2012. The faculty enhancement and education development program (FEED) consists of 6 interactive, small group, 2-hour sessions taught by experienced Mayo Clinic faculty over 1 year. These sessions address the following competencies: asking questions, diagnosing learners, giving feedback, using teaching frameworks, recognizing learning styles, and providing clinical supervision. Resident-of-faculty Mayo teaching effectiveness (MTE) scores have previously demonstrated content, internal structure, and criterion validity. Teachers were grouped into the top 80% or the bottom 20%, according to baseline MTE scores. Mixed linear models were used to compare these groups regarding changes in MTE scores after completion of FEED. Results were adjusted for teacher age, sex, medical specialty, academic rank, and teaching awards.

For all participants combined, the adjusted MTE scores (mean; standard error) improved from baseline (3.80; 0.04) to completion of FEED (3.93; 0.04; P < .001). However, the bottom 20% had a significantly greater improvement in scores than the top 80% (score-change difference  =  0.166, P < .001).

We describe a low-intensity faculty development intervention that benefited all clinical teachers, but was particularly effective for underperforming teachers in internal medicine. The approach may be suitable for adoption or adaptation in other graduate medical education programs.