Impact of resident teaching mentors on teaching certificate program outcomes

USC Mann has a longstanding and robust teaching certificate program involving 30 to 37 residents in USC and USC-affiliated residency programs annually. In 2020, resident teaching mentors (RTMs) were added to the program. Residents were assigned an RTM to provide mentorship and continuity throughout the teaching experience while helping to meet accreditation standards. The impact of adding RTMs to an existing resident teaching certificate program (RTCP) was evaluated.

Data were collected from PharmAcademic to assess the quantity and quality of evaluation comments related to teaching efforts and the proportion of residents who accepted postresidency positions with a teaching component, comparing residents who participated in the RTCP before (pre-RTM group) and after (post-RTM group) the inclusion of RTMs. Overall, 128 residents were included over a 5-year period (2017-2022). An overall increase in each metric was observed, including an increase in the number of criteria-based comments, the number of comments provided per resident (before: mean, 0.1; SD, 0.8; after: mean, 9.6; SD, 8.1), and the number of evaluations completed within 7 days of the due date (before: mean, 0.3; SD, 0.5; after: mean, 3.1; SD, 1). Overall, 52% of residents who completed the RTCP accepted a postresidency position with a teaching component.

This report provides evidence supporting the benefit of integrating dedicated faculty members, or RTMs, to serve as primary preceptors for RTCP learning experiences. RTMs may assist programs in meeting accreditation standards and contributing to the teaching development of their residents through quality, criteria-based comments submitted in on-time evaluations.