Training faculty to evaluate the patient education skills of residents

Nearly 44% of all outpatient visits result in a prescription for medicine; however, little emphasis is generally placed on training or evaluating residents' ability to teach patients about medication. Often faculty themselves have not received training in this subject, nor have they been trained to systematically evaluate patient education skills. As a result, this whole area of communications with patients is commonly overlooked. Even if skills are evaluated, different standards and criteria may be applied resulting in inconsistent feedback to residents' ability to communicate efficiently and effectively with patients about medication prescribed. Faculty participating in the program increased their ability to consistently evaluate resident performance with 80% accuracy. In addition, faculty reported increase in their own ability to communicate more effectively with patients about medication.