Limited Agreement Regarding Outpatient Preceptor Behaviors: Observer, Residents, Self

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Family Medicine
• Clinical Assessment

Background:

• The Mayo Outpatient Precepting Evaluation Tool (MOPET) was developed to enhance clinical teaching in family medicine residency programs.
• Scheduling difficulties with traditional peer evaluations prompted a need for more practical assessment methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability of self- and resident-reported teaching behaviors during clinical precepting.
• To compare self- and resident-reported data with peer observation using the MOPET.

Main Methods:

• Forty-eight half-day sessions in a family medicine residency clinic were evaluated.
• Parallel MOPET forms were completed by observers, preceptors, and residents.
• Interrater reliability was assessed using the kappa statistic.

Main Results:

• Residents perceived preceptors using 14 of 20 teaching behaviors more frequently than observers did.
• Significant agreement between observers and preceptors was found for five teaching behaviors.
• Agreement between observers and residents was significant for only two teaching behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Self-assessment and resident feedback offer potential practicality improvements for evaluating preceptor teaching.
• Direct peer observation using the validated MOPET is a more reliable method for assessing teaching behaviors.
• Findings suggest that while convenient, self- and resident-reported data lack the reliability of direct observation in clinical precepting.