A Pilot Study of a Direct Teaching Observation Tool for Residents

It is important to empower physicians to teach effectively so they are prepared to provide high quality education to medical trainees. The residency experience is recognized as an opportunity to help future faculty enhance their teaching skills, but there are few formalized tools available to facilitate this. We piloted a new observation tool for faculty to use when observing residents teach. The goal of our study was to determine if our observation tool is a useful and well accepted mode to facilitate feedback from faculty to residents about their teaching. A small number of senior residents were observed using the tool without prior knowledge of the tool components. Our early findings suggest that the tool is well-accepted by faculty and residents and may be useful as a catalyst in discussing a teaching framework. More data are being collected to determine if the tool is useful in improving resident teaching skills over time.