Peer Coaching as a Faculty Development Tool: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

In the era of competency-based assessment, medical education faculty are frequently challenged to develop unique teaching approaches. One method to address faculty development needs in a real-time clinical learning environment is peer coaching.

We implemented and evaluated a faculty development program involving peer observation and feedback for attending physicians.

Hospital internal medicine faculty assigned to a teaching service were recruited for the study. Participants voluntarily agreed to observe and be observed by a peer attending physician during a 2-week block of teaching rounds. When serving in the coaching role, faculty were asked to observe 4 separate occasions using an observation tool based on the Stanford Faculty Development Program framework to guide feedback. An outside consultant facilitated a focus group and completed a qualitative content analysis to categorize all participants' experiences during the faculty development activity.

Of the 22 eligible faculty, 14 (64%) agreed to participate by committing to 6 to 8 hours observing another faculty member during rounds, 2 feedback sessions, and 90 minutes to provide program feedback during a focus group. The analysis of the focus group revealed favorable reactions to the faculty development program, including (1) observed attending awareness of unrecognized habits; (2) personalized teaching tips for the observed attending to improve teaching quality based on individual style/preferences; and (3) exposure to new teaching techniques.

An inpatient-based peer-coaching faculty development program was acceptable and feasible for a majority of faculty and may improve individual teaching effectiveness among conventionally trained physicians.