Improving Faculty Performance in Providing Written Feedback to Learners

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Academic Medicine
• Faculty Development

Background:

• Faculty recognize the importance of resident and student assessments but struggle with consistent completion.
• Low completion rates for written assessments in academic medical centers pose a challenge to learner feedback.
• The study addresses the need to improve faculty assessment practices in emergency medicine.

Purpose of the Study:

• To increase the completion rate of written assessments by faculty for medical students and residents.
• To achieve 100% assessment of medical student shifts and 50% of resident shifts.
• To evaluate the impact of targeted interventions on faculty assessment practices.

Main Methods:

• Established faculty assessment targets in 2020 and implemented annual interventions over four years.
• Interventions included integration into faculty evaluations, a tracking dashboard, and a compensation plan.
• Retrospective analysis of performance data from the year prior to and during the four intervention years.

Main Results:

• Assessment completion for student shifts increased from 70% to 99%, and for resident shifts from 28% to 76%.
• The proportion of faculty meeting assessment targets rose significantly, with 100% completion increasing from 16% to 56% and ≥50% completion from 34% to 81%.
• Incremental improvements in completion rates were observed annually over the four-year intervention period.

Conclusions:

• Faculty assessment completion substantially improved following the implementation of targets, dashboards, and compensation incentives.
• These interventions effectively increased both the proportion of learner shifts assessed and the percentage of faculty meeting assessment targets.
• The study demonstrates a sustainable strategy for enhancing feedback practices in academic medicine.