Impact of a professional development session based on learner evaluations within a preceptor community of practice

Physician preceptors play key roles in teaching medical professional trainees but receive little formal teacher training. One proposed way to improve teaching is by providing preceptors with learner feedback. The feedback from learner evaluations often has a limited impact with changes to teaching practice difficult to implement. This study explores the effect of using learner feedback to create a professional development session on teaching within a preceptor community of practice.

In this case study, 15 preceptors agreed to release their learner evaluations, and ten participated in the professional development session. Immediately and 2-3 months after the session, participants completed surveys on their intention to change and the changes made. The community of practice lead was interviewed to discuss the professional development session's impact. Qualitative approaches were used to analyze the data.

From the learner evaluations, nine areas of improvement were identified and discussed. All attendees made changes to their teaching practices, which the community of practice lead confirmed. Fewer changes were identified at the community of practice group level.

Using learner evaluations to structure a professional development session within a community of practice can help identify areas of improvement and create strategies to address these challenges.